Shawnigan Prep
Teacher Appreciation: Ms. Kim Edgson
"I started working at Shawnigan in 2013. As the head of Prep School Programming, I support students that need help with English. I love unique challenges, and this is not like anything I have ever seen before. It is a dream situation - building language skills in a one year program with a small group of kids. My passion lies in connecting kids to something, and everyday I get to connect kids to each other, to something they care about, to the world, to their environment, to whatever it may be.
Being in the classroom with kids is my favorite thing. It's a huge responsibility, but also a huge gift. You get to watch kids acquire something. To share in that process, and to plant seeds that will eventually blossom, I just find that addictive.
Since they’re still growing and learning, every kid is a puzzle to themselves and to us. My favourite thing to do is to try to find out what makes them connect. I call it educational currency - what keeps them engaged, thirsting for knowledge, rather than just getting through the lesson. Every single kid is different, so when I’m designing a lesson I’m thinking about each of the kids in that room, and I’m watching for that little spark in their eyes that means they're coming alive.
I didn't mean to stay long term at Shawnigan. And then I realized that when you live with the kids you educate, the opportunities for connection are endless! I feel so lucky that my family and I get to live here and be a part of this, that my children get to go to school here too. It’s not a nine-to-five job, and to me that is one of the best things about it because you get multiple opportunities to help kids connect and find something they are passionate about.
At the beginning of every school year, after I meet my new students, I write a letter to myself, promising that I will help them be confident, curious, communicative kids, who will be able to go out in the world and blossom after they leave our gates. My promise to them is to do my best to give them the skills, knowledge, resilience, and character that they will need after they leave. When they leave Prep to go to the main school, when they leave the main school to go on to post secondary and their future, my hope is that they feel they've been set up for success.
I would say the most rewarding part of my job is when kids continue to show that they reached their potential and have blossomed. Those moments, when they finally understand what they have been struggling with, or achieve what they have been trying to achieve for so long, when you're there and you can see them “get” it... I live for those moments."
- From an interview with Ms. Kim Edgson (Prep House Director, English, ELL Support)
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
