Directors Q. What’s your educational background? I was raised in Ontario, having started elementary school in North Bay then moved to Trenton for the rest of elementary and high school. I moved to Montreal to attend McGill University, where I completed two undergraduate degrees: one in science (biology and chemistry) and the other in education. I returned to McGill to complete my MA in Educational Leadership while teaching full time.
Julie Clement
Q. What is your favourite subject to teach and why? It always has been and always will be science! I love coming up with new ways to experiment so that we can explore and better understand our world. The look of amazement when a student first uses a microscope or observes something unexpected in an experiment brings me a lot of joy.
“I chose to join the Pickering College community because of its mission of instilling in each individual the ability and responsibility to make the world greater, better and more beautiful than they discovered it. This really spoke to me as it is how I was raised to view my own life and what guides my own actions in the world.
Q. What interests do you pursue outside of the classroom? I am an enthusiastic basketball mom who cheers on my daughter’s competitive basketball team. I also love to travel and visit new places. Q. What is the greatest success you have had in teaching? I would have to say the March Break trips I planned and experienced with my students are some of my greatest successes. They were some of the most fun adventures I have ever been on and I really got to know my students well because of the opportunity to travel together. Seeing the tortoises of the Galapagos Islands, exploring the Amazon, waterfall rappelling and zip lining in Costa Rica, snorkeling with sharks and manta rays in Hawaii and seeing the glow of Kilauea’s crater at night; these are all experiences I have had with my students that I will never forget. I also think that these experiences were incredibly impactful on my students and gave them more of an appreciation for their world. Q. What is something most people don’t know about you? I have a second family in Nigeria. In 2017, I was asked to sponsor a 6-year-old girl, named Gemma, to have surgery on her legs at the Shriners’ Hospital in Montreal. Gemma has Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which means her bones are brittle, break easily and then curve when healing. The hospital performs the surgery for free, but someone local needed be accountable for her and her mom while in Canada, which I volunteered to do. Gemma returns to the Shriners’ Hospital each year for a checkup. She has become like a second daughter to me. I have learned so much about perseverance, resilience and hope from her and her mom, Mercy.
Director of Middle School
Interestingly, since announcing I was coming here, I actually found out from a cousin that my greatgreat-great uncle attended Pickering College in 1881, back when it was still in Pickering.”
Q. What are you currently reading for enjoyment? I am about to start reading Dare to Lead by Brené Brown for a book club I am in with other education leaders from across Canada. I currently spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, including one called Someone Knows Something by CBC Radio, which follows an investigative reporter who is looking into missing persons’ cold cases. Q. What’s the best thing about your job? The best thing is getting to be around young people and their energy every day. I love hearing their ideas, supporting them in solving problems and helping them with discovering more about who they are. Q. If you weren’t following this particular career path, what would you be doing? This is a really tough question because I really feel like education is where I was meant to be. I originally started university though with a goal of being a storm chaser or working in a hurricane centre. Natural disasters fascinate me but I also wanted to do more to help people to not be so negatively impacted by them. I realized that I wanted to work more with people so I decided to focus more on education. If I hadn’t of become an educator, I probably would have gone into counselling, social work or humanitarian work.
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