1) How many years did you go to W.E. and what grades were they?
2) Did you go to the VWP if so did that help you in life? 3) Do you think W.E. is different since you last seen it? 4) What were the availible programs at W.E. when you wnet here? 5) What were some of your favorite classes at W.E Graham? 6) Did you enjoy your years at W.E.Graham and did that help you in your future?
7)
What is your current job and how did W.E. help you get that job?
Answers toquestions i asked my interviewie over e-mail.
1. I went to W.E. Graham from Kindergarten to grade 8, with the exclusion of grade six which I took by distance education.
2. I did not go to the VWP.
3. I haven't been to WEG in a while, but I am pretty sure there are fewer students than when I was there. There were some major changes to the school during my grade 5 year (new front entrance, new band room, Mrs. Larson's portable gone, hop-scotch entrance gone and is now the VWP). I think it's been basically the same since then.
4. All of the basics were available, Science, English, French, Math, Sewing, Cooking etc. We also had a really great French teacher, woodworking, metal working, and band program. We would travel to Festival Nelson and Music Under the "K" with the school band every year. There was Olympics of the Mind, and destination imagination as extra curricular, and we had cross-country running, basketball and volleyball.
5. I liked shop class (woodworking), French, and Art. I also liked Math, just because Mr. Stoll was so awesome.
6. At the time, there were a lot of years that I didn't enjoy at WEG because I was quite badly bullied. I was not a cool kid and my parents wouldn't buy me the most fashionable clothes, so things were miserable for a while. But WEG had some good things, such as the buddy system (where younger kids would be paired with older students to do activities). This was a good opportunity to feel included and become more confident at school. Also, we used to have a "Sports Day" which had tons of different challenges all over the school and that was the best thing EVER! We would flip mats from one end of the gym to the other, meanwhile keeping your whole team on one of the two mats in a race. You would be paired up with students of all different ages. There were many stations and different challenges, kind of like on "Survivor" and you had to help your team get through. That was a really great friendship building activity, and we always finished with a water fight.
Aside from being bullied, I had a really great experience at WEG. I had really good relationships with all of my teachers and I felt like they knew who I was and cared about me. Also, when I got to Mt. Sentinel I found out that I was way ahead of all the students from Brent Kennedy, which was kind of nice. I had learned everything by French 8 at WEG that I would learn by grade 11 at Mt. Sentinel. It was only in French 12 that I started learning new stuff again. That was a bit of a frustration, but also it spoke for the quality of education at WEG.
7. Currently I am a firefighter and a University student.
I think that WEG definitely helped me to be successful in my life. At WEG, people always took the attitude that you could be capable of anything you would ever dream of doing. If you had questions, the instructors would seek to answer them. You felt valued as a person, and I think that really gives one the foundation that they need to build upon and be a strong, independent human being. We also were renowned for our excellent sportsmanship. We were terrible, never won any matches, but people noticed us for being good sports and having fun with what we were doing.
