As the school year comes to a close, so do the careers of many Prairie Rose School Division (PRSD) staff members. Each has spent years dedicated to improving the lives of students, and many retirees worked with the division for more than 20 years.
Verna Clemis began substitute teaching for the division in 1994 and became a part-time teacher in 2006, teaching Grades 5 to 10 English and math at Rosebank Colony School.
In 2006, she took on a one-year position as the physical education and world issues teacher at Carman Collegiate. The following year, she taught Grades 4 and 5 science and social studies before returning to Carman Collegiate as an English and history teacher, a role she held from 2008 to the present.
Inspired by her dad, who served on the school board, and her mom, who instilled a love of reading, Clemis said she always knew she wanted to become a teacher and was active in the school community while growing up.
Her first teaching contract was in 1989 at Roseau Valley School in Dominion City, a year she remembers fondly.
“I was a ‘roaming teacher,’ so I pushed a cart from room to room — it was good practice for eventual COVID teaching practices — and I loved so many aspects of it,” she recalled. “Dominion City embraced me.”
At the local CIBC, she met — and eventually married — a local banker. They will celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary this summer.
After Roseau Valley School, she briefly worked in Regina and Winkler before joining PRSD.
Over the years, she has accumulated many favourite memories, most of them stemming from interactions with current and former students. She appreciated hearing about the success of alumni and enjoys when they return for a conversation as adults.
“It helps me to remember that all is not in vain,” she said. “Especially on those tougher days when teaching seems futile.”
Additional highlights include teaching all three of her children, coaching the junior varsity and varsity girls basketball teams, celebrating students winning scholarships and sending them off at graduation.
Her colleagues also played a significant role throughout her career.
“We all understand the job and the difficulties that come with it,” she explained. “They are there to vent to, to offer ideas, to pick you up when you’re down, or simply just to listen.”
Her family has also been very supportive of her career, and she is proud to say they helped shape her into the parent and teacher she is today.
She is not the only thing that has changed since her first year of teaching — technology and pedagogical methods have evolved as well.
From handwriting report cards and calling parents directly to using Google Classroom to provide instant updates and manage assignments, she said she has witnessed both the benefits and challenges technology has brought to education, especially with the recent rise of artificial intelligence.
In retirement, she is looking forward to travelling, gardening, off-season camping, volunteering, having more time for recreational activities and no longer having to write report cards or grade assignments.
Although she is unsure how she will remain involved in the school community, she said she will be available to answer colleagues’ questions and may become a practicum advisor for student teachers.
Heather Armstrong served as Carman Collegiate’s librarian for two decades. Over the years, she also took on the role of volunteer yearbook supervisor, often photographing school events.
She supervised numerous clubs, including break dance, hip-hop dance, writing, radio, animation, film, coding, ukulele and guitar strum, and rock band.
Although becoming a librarian was not her first choice after high school, she initially pursued a journalism and creative communications degree and operated her own communications business. Years later, she enrolled in the Library Technology program at Red River College to prepare for the role of librarian at Carman Collegiate — a position she discovered through a local newspaper ad.
She explained she always found a safe place at the library, either nestled up with a pile of books, doing homework or simply hanging out with friends.
Some of her proudest moments over the past 20 years include inspiring students to read by helping them find the right books and mentoring students in activities they not only enjoyed but later pursued as careers. She added that it was always the students who brought her joy at the circulation desk each day.
Another highlight was taking students to the Yorkton Student Film Festival and to various technology- and career-based workshops.
She also served on the Pembina Escarpment Reading Council and the Manitoba Reading Association, in addition to helping students produce videos to promote community businesses and the expansion of the Boyne Regional Library.
In 2015, she was awarded the first Manitoba Reading Association Crocus Literacy Award for Literacy Advocacy.
In retirement, she looks forward to having more time for her creative pursuits and volunteer activities.
“I am excited to have more time to read, write, take photos and play ukulele,” she said.
She plans to continue volunteering with the yearbook committee and to serve as a substitute librarian for her former assistant, Tracy Plaitin.
Other honourable mentions
• Suzanne Godard, 24 years of service as a teacher, French specialist and various high school course instructor at Elm Creek School
• Crystal Martens, 22 years of service as a teacher at Elm Creek School
• Michelle Hoorne, 26 years of service as a teacher at St. François Xavier Community School
