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With A Southridge Founding Teacher With A Southridge Founding Teacher

BY PARVEEN LOODU COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING SPECIALIST

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with one of our ‘founding teachers’ (who started with Southridge in 1995), Dr. Jennifer Camulli. When Dr. Camulli was first hired by our founding Head of School, Mr. Alan Brown, she found herself teaching in a White Rock church as the modular building wasn’t ready yet.

“Those early days really cemented us as a family – all of the parents, faculty, and staff were embarking on this journey together at the ground level,” explains Dr. Camulli over a zoom conference call. Dr. Camulli spent her first three years at the school as a Kindergarten teacher and her remaining nine years as a Grade 2 teacher. “I have many fond memories of my time at Southridge,” reflects Dr. Camulli. “I remember making the great trek over to our new school space when it was ready, and we all pitched in to set up the school and classrooms.”

Dr. Camulli enjoyed making connections with her students and their families. She remembers in particular, a little girl named Grace whose parents scraped everything to be able to have their daughter join Southridge. She also recalled that like clockwork around the holiday season, her students would often talk about their big wishlists and all the wonderful things Santa brought them for Christmas.

“I had to sit my students down and explain to them that Santa doesn’t break house rules, so if your parents don’t agree or feel you should have something, Santa always respects your parents’ house rules and values,” remembers Dr. Camulli. “It made Grace feel better and helped some of the other students realize why there’s a discrepancy across homes.”

As she continued to teach at Southridge, Dr. Camulli would often have parents of siblings ask her to share the story about how Santa doesn’t break house rules. “It kind of became a tradition in my classroom, and many parents encouraged me to turn the story into a book,” explains Dr. Camulli.

Seventeen years later, Dr. Camulli did just that publishing Santa Doesn’t Break House Rules in 2021. “I was urged by parents over my years at Southridge to turn my story into a book and it was something that sat with me over the years, and I’m so glad I finally did it,” she explains.

You’ll even notice some very special nods to her time teaching at Southridge, as the bold and colourful illustrations include students wearing some very familiar uniforms as well as a PYP bulletin board, and even supports some of our PYP themes.

First, to each of the classes of Grade 2 students at Southridge School in Surrey, British Columbia, whom I had the privilege to teach for nine years, I dedicate this book to you. This story, borne from my imagination, was a way to teach them about managing expectations and complemented our commitment to support families through World Vision. Thank you to those students, and their parents, for encouraging me to write the story into a book.

Since her years at Southridge, Dr. Camulli has lived all around the world with her husband who is a pilot, spending ten years living in Macao where she’s even been visited by former Southridge students. She completed her PhD in Special Needs/Certified Accessibility and began working as a consultant in developing inclusive educational programming and workplaces.

Embracing the importance of accessibility, it was important to Dr. Camulli for the book to be as inclusive as possible, so it includes QR codes for the deaf and blind on each page with links to sign language and audio options.

“Since my teaching days, I’ve worked a lot in developing inclusive education programming, and I’m so glad to be able to bring all of these passions together in this special project,” reflects Dr. Camulli. “It feels like a full circle moment and I’m happy to share it with the Southridge community.”