Exploring Cultures with Chancellor Staff
Judy Farrell (Principal) grew up on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. She is the youngest of 10 children and grew up in the country where building and creating things with your hands was a way of life. As she got older, Judy developed a love of crafting. She enjoys spending time felting, making things with her Cricut and most of all carving. Judy started wood carving after taking a class from Lee Valley here in Winnipeg. Wood carving is a great stress reliever as it requires your full attention. There are many great YouTube videos about wood carving. See one link below for an easy to follow video.
Basswood wood carving spirit whittling hand carving - YouTube |
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Chris Uhres-Todd (Vice-Principal) hails from Northern Ireland and has lived in three other countries before coming to her forever home of Canada. She grew up on a small hobby farm in the countryside and loved looking after her many animals and exploring the wild peat bogs near her home. Her weekends consisted of chores, exploring walks, horseback rides and occasional daytrips. Chris now lives outside the perimeter on a small hobby farm and loves spending time with her three kids and many animals. The chickens provide lots of beautiful eggs and the sheep and alpaca provide wool to craft with. Chris works with the wool and creates fiber art including weaving and felting. She can be found outside all summer with her children and enjoys working with her two horses. Click on the link below to learn more about how wool can be grown and processed at a local wool mill.
https://www.longwayhomestead.com |
Cheryl Waldner (Office Secretary) grew up in Guelph, Ontario. Her mother and grandmother both loved to sew and create beautiful quilts. Cheryl has many wonderful memories of reading a good book under a quilt stretched out on a quilting frame. She first learned to sew in grade 7 Home Economics class where she discovered her love of creating colourful tote bags and purses. Cheryl has spent many years learning the art of sewing and creating things using fabric. Her newest adventure is learning to machine quilt. Cheryl is having fun sewing for her first grandchild who will join her family later in the summer. Check out one of my favourite websites if you want to find out more about sewing and quilting: www.allpeoplequilt.com |
Heather McDevitt (Guidance Counsellor) came to Canada from Ireland at the age of 20. She came for the summer with her cousin Orla to work as an Au Pair for an Irish family in the Pas, Manitoba. The following year she returned to Canada by herself with a one-way ticket, two suitcases and $500 dollars in her pocket! Coming from a family of six children there were limited opportunities to go to University so she moved to Canada to follow her dreams. Mrs McDevitt loves to create art and activities using paint, paper materials, and wool. Her current passion is felting with wool to make enchanted fairies and woodland creatures inspired by her childhood memories. While it takes a lot of time of patience it is a fun and satisfying form of art. Click the link below to learn more about the felting process and how you can begin to make your own felting projects using cookie cutters. Enjoy! .https://youtu.be/HhjmKu-QzgA?t=7
Christel Steingart (Student Resource Teacher) I moved to Canada the summer of 1983 when I was 8 years old from the Netherlands. My family moved to Manitoba to seek more opportunities in dairy farming. My parents purchased a dairy farm in Labroquerie, an hour southeast of Winnipeg. I enjoyed working on the farm, feeding calves, milking cows, cutting grass and tending to the garden. Now I enjoy teaching English to newcomers at Chancellor just as I had to learn English when I arrived. |
Sabina Lozinski (Head Caretaker), emigrated from Poland and came to Canada with her family. She continues to pursue her passion for agriculture through gardening and expresses herself through compositions. Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter are the biggest and most important times of year emphasizing the loving memories of family gathered around the table and festive centerpieces she had created for the occasion.
Here is a link to a step by step centerpiece you can make yourself this Christmas! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Gc2yq507I |
Kelly Hrabliuk (Grade 6 Teacher) My family on my dad's side moved from Ukraine to Canada in the early 1900's. They had a farm near Dauphin and had chickens and cows. They grew potatoes, onion, and lots of other vegetables. Growing up I used to make perogies with my Grandma. We would make cheddar perogies and eat them with sour cream. We would make them for our family during the holidays as a gift. You can try making your own with this recipe. |
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From left to right: Ms Linda Green (Resource), Mrs. Samantha Popowich (Library Tech), Ms. Susan Prescott (Resource/Grade 1), Mrs. Alison Marshall (Library)
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We love reading picture books to explore new cultures and remind ourselves of memories from our childhood. Some of our favourite picture books remind us of our childhood summers and family traditions.
P is for Puffins reminds Mrs. Marshall of her childhood spent by the ocean in Newfoundland. B is for Bluenose takes Ms. Prescott to her childhood summers in Nova Scotia. G is for Goldenboy is a book that reminds Mrs. Popowich of her favourite places in Manitoba. Ms. Green loves L is for Living Skies, as it makes her think of her Saskatchewan summers with her grandparents. Canadian communities are filled with unique attractions that tell the story of their history. Some of the attractions listed in the books are found on this website. https://www.roadsideattractions.ca/roadside/ These books connect us to the places that helped shape us and reminds us that “a people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots” (Marcus Garvey). |
Rose Maddocks (grade one teacher) was born in London, England. She travelled with her family to Canada on a ship when she was 6 months old. The first house she lived in was on Jubilee Avenue beside the BDI. To this day, Mrs. Maddocks still likes to go there for ice-cream. When she was 12 years old, she finally became a Canadian citizen, although she still considers England her first home. Mrs. Maddocks has returned to England many times over the years and even went to school there for a year when she was 7 years old. When Mrs. Maddocks first moved to Canada there were only 4 people in her family. Now that family has grown to 20 people! Mrs. Maddocks still has family living in England and Scotland and she even has an aunt and uncle in Australia. Mrs. Maddocks loves to see the world and this is probably connected to her first trip when she was a baby. She was a teacher in Japan for 2 years (where she climbed Mt. Fuji), has visited Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, Italy and France as well as parts of Canada and the U.S. Mrs. Maddocks believes that one of the greatest gifts in life is to experience different cultures by travelling and seeing the world. She dreams of visiting Egypt, Easter Island and Tahiti one day.
If you are interested in seeing the volcano that Mrs. Maddocks climbed, please click on the link. You will experience the beauty of this mountain at sunrise which is exactly what Mrs. Maddocks did in 1992. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaykNeePEmg |
Tonya Frost (Educational Assistant) grew up in Ottawa, Ontario. She is from an Irish and Scottish background. Her father was the drum major for the Canadian Armed Forces Pipe Band. Tonya’s mother was heavily involved in Scottish Country Dancing both teaching and performing. This laid the foundation for Tonya to get involved in Highland Dancing. She travelled to competitions throughout Canada, the United States and Scotland. She won many awards and enjoyed teaching. Tonya was selected for the Highland Dancing team that represented Canada in the 1981 and 1986 world renowned Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland. Those early years of Highland Dancing built a love for Scottish music, dance, lifelong friendships, travel and cultural appreciation. https://www.mbhighlanddance.com |
Janaica Feranil (Rehab Assistant-EA) was born in the Philippines and moved to Canada in the year 2000 when she was just 4 years old. Moving to a new country at such a young age she lost the knowledge of speaking in her native language (Tagalog) fluently but can still understand it. She has moved a total of 4 times and has only lived in Manitoba. Ms. F spent most of her life in Brandon, MB from 2005 till 2018, she has been living in Winnipeg since. Back in the earlier '05 years there wasn't a big Filipino community, so her parents decided to sign her and her 2 older siblings up to dance in the Filipino pavilion. It was a great way to keep her connected and be proud of her culture. Please click on the video to watch Ms. F performing a traditional Filipino dance called "Tinikling". Enjoy! |
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Mrs. Fenny Humphreys’ (Physical Education Teacher) cultural background is German, Scottish, and Irish. Many of the cultural traditions she enjoyed growing up were English as her grandmother, although Scottish, grew up in an English home. One special cultural tradition that she took part in as a child was Highland dancing and was a competitive highland dancer for many years. It is one of the many introductions into physical activity and movement that eventually lead her to becoming a Physical Education teacher.
Here is a video on how to do the fling! Enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcNTsbKHryA |