Two teachers and one educational assistant new to the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute joined the staff at the school at the beginning of the 2016-17 term.
Although there was no mention of the three new staff members in the list of school staff members that had been received from the Good Spirit School Division office and was printed in the September 1 issue of the Times, joining the KCI staff are teachers Cory Johnson and Bethany Brade, and Nancy Logan, an educational assistant (EA).
Born in Pelly, where he attended school to the third grade, Johnson was hired as the Grade 7A home room teacher who is teaching English, Math and social studies to his home room students and English and history to Grade 10 students.
A graduate of the Yorkton High School, Johnson attended the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, graduating with distinction with a bachelor of education degree in 2012.
Out of school, Johnson was a substitute teacher in Saskatoon for a year while he also worked on sewer and water line construction. In 2013, he worked at the Preeceville school for a semester while the teacher was on maternity leave. He returned to Pelly in 2014 when he was hired to teach a number of subjects including high school history and physical education, and last year he was the grades 7 and 8 class’s home room teacher.
Currently living in Yorkton with his fiancée, Dina Shewchuk, a nurse, Johnson said he enjoys playing sports, including hockey, racquetball and golf and is a keen woodcarver.
“I’m excited to be here,” he said during an interview held last week in his classroom and in front of his students. “This is a great school. I’ve been around this community all my life.
“I’ve got a happy bunch (of students). It will be a good year,” he said.
Bethany Brade was hired on a .65-time basis to succeed Kristen Doyle as the KCI art teacher.
Born and raised at Drayton Valley, Alta, Brade attended Frank Maddock High School in Drayton Valley and then Concordia University of Edmonton where she studied drama with a minor in English. She obtained her bachelor of arts degree in 2014, and then two years later received her bachelor of education degree from The Kings University in Edmonton.
The art position at KCI is Brade’s first regular teaching job, although she taught music at the Roblin Elementary School in June. She lives in Roblin with her husband Chris Brade, who owns the Esso service station in Roblin.
Among Brade’s interests is theatre. She’s performed in plays while a student and during the summer she taught a performing arts camp in Roblin.
“It is called the Limelight Performing Arts Camp. It was a one-week camp for children aged five to 15 years,” she said. “We staged Snow White, and we plan on having another camp next summer.”
Brade said she plans to direct a musical in Roblin during the winter.
Nancy Logan of Burgis Beach at Good Spirit Lake has been hired to work as an educational assistant with the Grade 5B students.
A native of Odessa, Logan has been working in the educational system for about eight years. At Vibank Regional School, which is a Kindergarten to Grade 12 facility, she worked as an E.A. for four years, a nutrition worker for a couple years, and meanwhile had driven a school bus for six years.
She and her husband Raymond are the parents of five adult children.
Logan, who has a certificate in professional cooking from SIAST, has begun a business called Cake by the Lake through which she sells cakes, cookies and cupcakes through the Internet.
“We really enjoy living at the lake,” she said, listing boating and fishing among her interests that also include reading, cooking and baking.
