A profound thing happened in my life last week. I was the lucky recipient of a SCOPE award – recognition from the Selkirk College Faculty Association (SCFA) Standing Committee On Professional Excellence. I got to share this honour with 3 tremendously accomplished colleagues.

I’m still trying to metabolize being a SCOPE recipient. It puts me in the company of people that I consider giants in the education world, people that I’ve taken inspiration from and endeavoured to emulate. I also know that without the larger climate of support at Selkirk, awards like this would not happen. I’m grateful for the team that I work in, the colleagues in other faculties and staff positions that I get to connect with, and the leadership that invites us and supports us to take risks.
The certificate is beautifully framed – but the real treasure in all of this? The contents of the yellow duo tang in the picture above.
It is deeply meaningful for me is that students submitted the nomination. Students, staff, and people in the community were invited to write letters of support. All this happened over the course of many months without my (or the other nominees) knowledge. Although I learned about the award in June, I didn’t know who started it, who supported it, or why.
I’ve been part of the teaching faculty at Selkirk since 2018 when I joined the newly re-named Education Assistant and Community Support Worker (EACSW) program. I had worked with Selkirk in a variety of different capacities prior, but fall of 2018 was the first time that I looked out across a room full of students and felt the depth of my responsibility to them. I endeavoured to bring the best and worst of my prior experiences as an EA and CSW to them, to connect that with the curriculum, and to create spaces where they could bring their own experiences to bear so that they could make their own personal connections.
My position at Selkirk has allowed me to go places I wouldn’t have otherwise gone and to meet people I wouldn’t have met. It has taught me how to walk the talk of accessibility in ways that I was completely ignorant of prior. I will forever be grateful to a student who, when we released the SPECTRUM LifeSpan Resources and Training course, went through my (this) website and my public social media to let me know that if I thought I was doing it accessibly, I was absolutely wrong. (After a brief battle with my pride) I went back to add image descriptions to my photos and have been doing that ever since.
Being at Selkirk has made it possible to host the Conversation Series about Disability and Access with students, alumni, community members, staff, instructors and leadership. Those conversations have brought student issues to light in ways that were not necessarily being heard before and created a small, vital community that just today have started the next round of gatherings. The group knows what it wants to be, what it wants to explore. I’m excited to convene the conversations and watch them take on a life of their own.
On Tuesday last week my friend and colleague Leesa presented my award. She spoke to the room about my nomination and the support letters, citing specific passages from some of them. I fought back tears while she spoke and will be forever indebted to her kindness in being the presenter, in her passion, and her words in the actual presentation.
It filled my heart that many of my family and friends were present. Those who were there took video for those who were not – and thankfully, for me, too. I have been able to revisit the video in a quieter moment – I was so caught up on the day itself, that I had no memory of what I said in thanks!
So.
Why are the contents of the yellow duo tang the real treasure?
It’s a copy of the nomination and each of the support letters.
Quite frankly, I haven’t read them all yet. Not because there are so many, but because each one is so genuine, so heartfelt, and each one strikes me very deeply.
The big message in all of this? If someone is making a difference to you, tell them. They may not know that you feel the way you do, or that even they’re doing something you consider extraordinary.
When we know we’re doing well, we gain energy to do even better.