The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Principal makes her mark by embracing change … and connection

FIRST, LET’S GET THE CLICHÉS out of the way.

A rolling stone gathers no moss. There’s a certain something about people from Saskatchewan. Everything you need to know about teaching, you can learn by teaching kindergarten.

OK, maybe some of those aren’t exactly clichés, but they’re close, and there is definitely one thing they do have in common: they apply to Terri Lynn Guimond, principal of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic High School in Spruce Grove.

Born in Saskatoon, Guimond had seven other Saskatchewan home towns on her way to graduating high school in Rosetown. Such was life for the family of a bank manager.

And throughout her teaching career, Guimond has worn almost as many hats.

“I always joke, if I ever write a book it’s going to be called How a Kindergarten Teacher Becomes a Principal of a High School,” she says.

In her youth, moving around a lot enabled ­Guimond to develop the skill of forming relationships quickly. 

“There were teachers that really helped me to be successful with all of those transitions,” she says.

Her own venture into teaching was natural. Her grandmother was a teacher and Guimond herself felt called to the profession from an early age.

“I don’t ever, ever, ever remember wanting to be anything else other than a teacher,” she says.

Following her BEd degree at the University of ­Alberta, Guimond landed her first teaching ­assignment at Father Gerard Redmond Community Catholic School in Hinton. It was Grade 3. 

She continued the rolling stone approach she grew up with, switching the next year to Grade 1 — a four-year stint. She then taught kindergarten in Stony Plain and Spruce Grove — six years. And on it went until she joined administration 14 years into her career.

“I’ve always been really open to any opportunity that’s been presented to me and I’ve never limited myself,” she says.

‘A CERTAIN SPARKLE’

As a teacher, Guimond brought a special combination of creative ideas and positive energy that gave her “a certain sparkle,” says her former teaching partner Sandy Richinski.

“I just remember the first time I met her in the hallways … and just thinking, wow, what a lovely person,” Richinski recalls. “I think it’s because we’re both from Saskatchewan.”

Richinski and Guimond went on to be kindergarten teaching partners for several years, co-planning lessons and always collaborating.

Some of the ideas that Guimond brought forward became entrenched traditions, such as marking the end of kindergarten, not with a graduation ceremony, but with a student-performed circus.

“She has an aura. There’s something around her that just brightens everything up,” Richinski says. 

Guimond says that her tenure as a kindergarten teacher was very influential.

“My time teaching in kindergarten really made me ­realize what was important about teaching and learning,” she says, crediting Richinski for helping her take her ­teaching to another level.

“She taught me so much about seeing students as individual little people. She taught me how to see them and bring out their gifts.”

Deputy superintendent Dave Dempsey knows Guimond both as an administrator and as a parent, as two of his kids went through her class.

“They’re well into their 20s and professionals now and they still remember her classroom as a really joyful place to be and a place where they could actually take risks … and where they were embraced for who they were,” he says.

As an administrator, Guimond is humble but has a natural ability to draw people to her and is exceptionally strong in gathering consensus to move her school forward, Dempsey says.

“She always understands that she’s starting with students and learning, and looking at where she wants students to be at the end of their career as students,” Dempsey said. “That, probably more than any principal I’ve ever met, she brings in spades.”

WHAT NEXT?

There’s a sign in Guimond’s office that reads “It always seems impossible until it is done.” She got the sign in anticipation of a challenging 2020/21 school year, but it could also be a fitting motto for her own career, which has been marked by a variety of opportunities being suggested to her rather than her seeking them out.

Guimond is currently exploring PhD options and a research fellowship, but she’s not sure what her future holds and doesn’t see her current role as a means to advancing to something else.

“I’m focused on the work that I need to do here right now,” she says, “and I don’t want my staff to ever feel like they’re a stepping stone for anything.”

Fair enough. But there’s clearly one more cliché to deal with here: When opportunity knocks, answer the door.

“Our profession has allowed me to have so many different careers within it,” Guimond says. “When opportunities happen, that’s when I think about it.” 

TERRI LYNN GUIMOND: ROLLING STONE