Maverick School celebrates 25th anniversary
The creation of a unique learning environment was celebrated during a 25th anniversary event at Maverick School.
The celebration took place exactly 25 years after the school opened its doors in Swift Current on Oct. 12, 1993.
A number of speakers reflected on the history of the school and on the educational opportunities that it provides to learners in a student driven school.
Chinook School Division Board Chair Shane Andrus and Director of Education Kyle McIntyre brought greeting on behalf of the school division.
Chinook School Division board member Larry Caswell, who was a decision-maker when the school was created, spoke about the early history of the school. Colin Smith, a long-time teacher at Maverick School, read letters of congratulation from former school principal Harv Martinez and Ken Ladouceur, who was the superintendent of the former Prairie West School Division when the school was established.
The school's first principal, Steve Small, shared his reflections with the audience and current principal Jayne Nicholson spoke about the school's recent history and achievements. Student Rebecca Korchynski talked about her time at the school and the difference it has been making in her life. The formal program concluded with a musical performance by students Georgia Drummond, Ayden Eckert, Haley Ginter, Griffin Funk and music teacher Stacey Tinant.
“We're very proud of the successes that Maverick have had,” Chinook School Division Director of Education Kyle McIntyre told the Prairie Post afterwards. “Maverick students were students who really didn't fit into the traditional model of education that maybe a lot of us have gone through. Maverick students truly are mavericks. They're unique, they respond to the world differently, they have different pathways to demonstrate their learning. Maverick really is a family. It's a lot of eclectic students with unique learning needs and challenges and strengths and talents, coming together to discover themselves and being accepted and being part of a big family.”
He noted that the approach to learning at Maverick School is really responsive to the needs of students and it acknowledges that not everyone will learn in the same way.
“The thing that Maverick does better than a lot of schools is there's a lot of student choice, there's student voice, there's students working at their own pace, there's students working on areas that they are naturally interested in, there's some land-based learnings, there's working on outcomes at your own pace, there's taking time away if you need to take time away,” he said. “Kids don't all come in a nice little box and not everyone learns the same way, and I think Maverick acknowledges and accepts the differences in children.”
Larry Caswell was part of the early decisions made within the former Prairie West School Division that resulted in the formal establishment of Maverick School. It all started when Russ Siemens, a former principal at Waldeck School, wanted to help three students who have dropped out of high school. The school division used grant money that were then made available through the education department to fund the correspondence courses for these students. Caswell said there was a realization then that not all students are able to fit into the very structured school system.
“We knew there was a need at that time and one of the issues we've always had in Swift Current since the sixties was that we only had one high school, and so there were no options,” he said. “It's a big operation and it runs like a big operation, and that makes it hard to meet every individual need that comes along. So we recognized there was a need to meet those requirements and that's what we tried to do right from the beginning.”
For practical reasons the school was located in Swift Current, but that caused disagreements about jurisdiction and the Prairie West School Division made a difficult decision to transfer Maverick School to the Swift Current School Division.
“It was a very hard choice, possibly the hardest one I've been part of, because you have a pride in something that's working and it's kind of your baby and you really don't want to give it up,” he recalled. “In the end, because the kids were the important part of that equation, we signed over and we gave them the teachers, the students and the cheque book with the balance in the account to keep on running it and to their credit, they did continue to run it more or less in the same manner.”
For Caswell the 25th anniversary celebration of Maverick School was a moment of pride about the success of students who were able to continue their education in a setting that made it possible for them to do that.
“They need more individual concern and care, and so when they get it here they actually blossom very well,” he said. “I think our standard schools could probably try a little harder to deal with that diversity a little better than they do, and I think they are getting better, quite frankly, but it's a slow process.”
Steve Small was the school's first principal when it formally opened 25 years ago. He was a teacher and a farmer at the same time, and he agreed to only remain as principal for one year, but he continued to teach at the school until 2010, when he retired from the profession. He still returns to the school every year for the Heart of Maverick awards presentation. He was excited to be at the celebration and to listen to what people were saying about the school.
“I was pleased as punch with what they had to say,” he said. “To sit here today and listen to people talk about how they view the school is terrific. I knew from the first day that I was here 25 years ago that the school was going to work, that the kids were great. There was nothing wrong with the kids. There wasn't anything wrong with them that they needed the school. It was the system had been failing them.”
He did not see the early years of the school as a challenge, but it was an opportunity for him to be a part of something unique.
“In terms of building the school being a challenge, for me it was so much fun, I never saw it as a challenge,” he said. “I don't remember more than five or 10 days out of the 18 years that I worked here that I didn't think that I was the luckiest guy in the world to have this job. This was the most fun I've ever had in any kind of working situation that I ever had.”
He feels the principles that have been developed at Maverick School are slowly making its way into the broader school system.
“The larger school system is changing slowly, like all establishments do, to allow students to have more input into the direction the school is going and what they are allowed to do in that school,” he said. “I think that's a lesson they can learn. The idea of developing a safe place for people to be and figuring novel ways to help people.”
For Jayne Nicholson, the current principal, the celebration was a moment to have gratitude and she marvelled at the unique history of the school.
“I think it's almost fitting that Maverick had a little bit of a turbulent history and had to survive that to keep going,” she said. “People had to come together and make hard decisions in order for Maverick to exist, and they did, because in doing so, they put students ahead of themselves to know that if this was going to carry on, this was what had to be done, and that's what Maverick is. It's a place where the students have to be put ahead of everything else, and that's what makes it work.”
As an educator she feels the school represents a model of education that is worth striving for, regardless of the size of an educational institution.
“In the very large institution you may not be able to have the same degree of student voice and choice, but I think that any schools benefits from enhancing the relationships between teachers and students, throwing hierarchy out of the window and working on relationships, and releasing your students as people who you are there to help,” she said. “You're their learning partner, you're there to engage with them, you are there to support them in their endeavours and their personal lives, and you really help them discover themselves in what they want to do and where they want to go. To me that's what resonated with me when I came and that's what still resonates with me now.”