Friday November 7th, 2014 was an exciting day for me as an educator. When we have guests who visit our schools we never know the impact that they will have. The Paul Lafrance visit was one I will not forget for a long time.
For those of you who don't know Paul Lafrance is a television personality on HGTV Canada and has been a host on several shows, including Decked Out, Deck Wars and Disaster Decks. He was also a celebrity judge on the second season of Canada's Handyman Challenge. Paul is also a high school dropout who has become a very successful with his business Paul Lafrance Designs.
More importantly, Paul is a great person who spent an entire day at DCSS inspiring our students. He started with an amazing presentation for our students where his message centered around students making the most of their opportunities and challenging them to "never work a day in their lives". He then joined our staff for lunch and then spent the afternoon talking with students, answering questions and visiting classrooms.
His visit for me was the second coolest experience I've had as an educator. The first was presenting my sister with her High School Diploma (sorry Paul). I was talking to my dad on the weekend about his visit and naturally he asked me what made his visit so exciting? After reflecting over the weekend about that question, I think I finally have an answer.
Paul mentioned several times about the resources and opportunity we have for students at DCSS. The various programs and options that we have are second to none. From the drama programs to the shop programs to the Dual Credit partnerships and everything in between we are blessed to have these opportunities for our students. This ties into a bigger piece for me in terms of education.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution people who painted, sculpted and built things with their hands were regarded as highly as the professionals in society. When factories were built we started educating students so that they were compliant workers in a factory setting. In all of this the education of skilled trades people, artists, sculptors and musicians was pushed to the back to produce factory workers. Fast forward over 100 years and we are still educating students in the same way while our world is progressing faster now than it ever has in human history.
To me there is a disconnect here but with that disconnect comes opportunity. The opportunity is changing the way we educate the current generation. On Friday a student asked me, "Mr. Kurjata do you enjoy your job?". I wanted to quickly answer yes, but I felt myself hesitating because up until that point I had never been asked that question.
The reality is I love what I do for a living because we can have an impact on students lives with the work we do everyday. I love what I do because I see opportunity to change thinking and redefine how we educate. I'm I happy with where we are at? No ... but ... I'm excited by the direction we are heading as a school.
So what made Paul's visit so exciting? He reminded me why I got into this profession and gave me hope that if we continue to head in this direction the outcome with be worth the effort.
Thank you Paul!
For those of you who don't know Paul Lafrance is a television personality on HGTV Canada and has been a host on several shows, including Decked Out, Deck Wars and Disaster Decks. He was also a celebrity judge on the second season of Canada's Handyman Challenge. Paul is also a high school dropout who has become a very successful with his business Paul Lafrance Designs.
More importantly, Paul is a great person who spent an entire day at DCSS inspiring our students. He started with an amazing presentation for our students where his message centered around students making the most of their opportunities and challenging them to "never work a day in their lives". He then joined our staff for lunch and then spent the afternoon talking with students, answering questions and visiting classrooms.
His visit for me was the second coolest experience I've had as an educator. The first was presenting my sister with her High School Diploma (sorry Paul). I was talking to my dad on the weekend about his visit and naturally he asked me what made his visit so exciting? After reflecting over the weekend about that question, I think I finally have an answer.
Paul mentioned several times about the resources and opportunity we have for students at DCSS. The various programs and options that we have are second to none. From the drama programs to the shop programs to the Dual Credit partnerships and everything in between we are blessed to have these opportunities for our students. This ties into a bigger piece for me in terms of education.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution people who painted, sculpted and built things with their hands were regarded as highly as the professionals in society. When factories were built we started educating students so that they were compliant workers in a factory setting. In all of this the education of skilled trades people, artists, sculptors and musicians was pushed to the back to produce factory workers. Fast forward over 100 years and we are still educating students in the same way while our world is progressing faster now than it ever has in human history.
To me there is a disconnect here but with that disconnect comes opportunity. The opportunity is changing the way we educate the current generation. On Friday a student asked me, "Mr. Kurjata do you enjoy your job?". I wanted to quickly answer yes, but I felt myself hesitating because up until that point I had never been asked that question.
The reality is I love what I do for a living because we can have an impact on students lives with the work we do everyday. I love what I do because I see opportunity to change thinking and redefine how we educate. I'm I happy with where we are at? No ... but ... I'm excited by the direction we are heading as a school.
So what made Paul's visit so exciting? He reminded me why I got into this profession and gave me hope that if we continue to head in this direction the outcome with be worth the effort.
Thank you Paul!