OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or through this link. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is from Fayne Bullen, 94, a much beloved, though long-retired Park Street Collegiate Institute teacher.
Christine Lewis, the Child and Youth Care Practitioner at West Hill Collegiate Institute of the Toronto District School Board, wrote the following tribute to my son, Trevor Bullen, principal of West Hill Collegiate Institute, in an address to the superintendent and director of the school board.
Christine said: "I hope each and every single one of you has had an amazing start to your day. As we wrap up this school year, I want to acknowledge that as a parent and employee of TDSB, I do know that your job comes with a lot of responsibility and most of the time emails are not so pleasant at times.
"I want to take this time to send a positive and encouraging email as we end this school year and get prepared for a new one. I write this email to you all to acknowledge and highlight the amazing work of Trevor Bullen. His leadership is exactly what this board has set out to hire!
"He has changed West Hill Collegiate Institute to not just a safe place but an open space for all youth to embrace who they are and make the necessary changes through accountability, stability, consistency and most importantly love. Trevor gives meaning to the words inclusion and equity and strives for the best for all!
"It has truly been an honour and a privilege to work within his leadership. He exudes Black excellence and challenges the ways of how many may have been taught through indoctrination. He is not only a principal, but also what many marginalized youth have set as an example of what standing on who you are and always being open to learn.
"He is the meaning of what I stand firm on and that is, that one's impact must always be greater than their intention! His impact has shaped not just our students, but our staff into what reaching their true potential is. He has a gift of passion, change and equity.
It has truly a gift to work alongside him! To say thank you to Trevor just doesn't suffice! So, I had to take the time out to acknowledge leadership within your leadership. I hope all of you have a restful summer with your family and friends,' said Lewis.
This tribute to Trevor is outstanding but not unusual. My daughter Selina, my son Terry, and I have received beautiful words of praise and appreciation for our service as teachers and mentors.
The call to be a teacher is deeply rooted in my experience in Grenada. Inspired by the dedicated teachers in my elementary school, I started teaching at 19 in the same school. My efforts there earned me the title “Teacher Fayne“ by which I was addressed for many years by former students wherever I met them, even years later and even in London or New York.
Appreciation for the value of education and belief in the essential ability of individual students were the motivating factors inspiring my work as a teacher. The record of my years of teaching at George Harvey Secondary School in Toronto and Park Street Collegiate in Orillia is valued as a successful job well done. The appreciation I have received and the thank you from past students I still receive is gratifying. Equally satisfying is the inspiration my work gave my children to become teachers.
Terry, a young man with tremendous athletic ability, which enabled him to earn five lacrosse championship rings and a place in the Orillia and Canadian Hall of Fame, served as a physical education teacher and a vice principal. His unusual ability to create bonds with students made him a valuable mentor. Although he has been retired for years, students greet him as a friend and companion.
Selina, my daughter, a graduate of Queen’s University who also attended a university in Belgium, taught French at several schools in Barrie and Orillia. Her ability to be precise and attentive to details ensured that students were truly learning as they should. Selina is retired now, but the demand for her service is beyond her capacity to fulfill. She is an asset to the teaching profession.
The Bullen family appreciates the opportunity to be teachers.
Fayne Bullen
Orillia
