Thanks

Hello,

I'm a few days later than I had planned, but it took a little longer than I expected to go through nine years worth of stuff.

After cleaning out my desk and cabinets, getting rid of a few things, and moving the rest to St. Anne's, my time at Holy Redeemer has officially come to an end.

When I arrived at Holy Redeemer, I had three years of teaching experience, I was recently engaged and still living with my parents.

Now, I leave Holy Redeemer, ready to celebrate eight years of marriage with my wife, and our daughter's fifth birthday, this month. I think you might have heard me talk about her once or twice, her name is Stella.

A lot has changed in my life, but one thing hasn't: my love for the Ottawa Senators.

Ok sorry, two things haven't changed, my love for the Sens and of course, my passion for teaching.

We had an amazing final week, with the leaving ceremony, talent show, and end of year slideshows. It's been a great time to look back on the year.

This year has been another wonderful experience for me and I hope my students learned as much from me as I did from them.

I have the greatest job in the world because I look forward to teaching my students every single day. I look forward to hearing their stories about the games they played the night before, or seeing their excitement when they master a skill in Math class.

I am so proud to meet former students and see all that they have accomplished already, in their studies and even the work world (yes, I have now been teaching that long). It fills me with so much pride when they tell me that I inspired them to do their best.

I want to thank all of you, students and parents, for being my partners on a learning journey this year. We have all worked hard together and the students have achieved great success this year because of it.

This past week I have received some very thoughtful gifts, none of which were necessary, but all were definitely appreciated. I am most thankful for the amazing notes from parents and students. Thanks so much for your kind words. I am overwhelmed and humbled each year by the feedback I get from parents and students.

Next year will mean new challenges for all of us.

We will all be moving to new schools.

Rest assured, when I am teaching my Grade 2/3 class on the first day of school next year, my thoughts will drift to you, probably at lunch time, when I have some time to reflect. I will wonder how you are doing, and if any of you got lost or forgot your locker combinations, but I will remain confident that we will all be successful at our new schools. Why? Well, because I think we are all pretty awesome!

I will miss all of you, but I definitely plan on seeing you at various Holy Redeemer events. At the very least, my family will have to attend the BBQ, so that Mr. Ullrich can take our annual family photo!

I will post a few things this week, including downloadable versions of the slideshows from the Leaving Ceremony and of Mr. Ullrich's amazing video.

Have a wonderful Summer.

Mr. Skinner