What does it mean to grow up in a school? Most of us would assume that it applies just to students, but the truth is that it happens to teachers as well. At last night’s beautiful Hebrew Foundation School ORT Campaign Launch, Andrew Stein (HFS class of 2012) and our very own Mme Marisol Tremblay each spoke about their connection to the school and its role in their respective lives and careers. For Andrew, now a premed student at Mcill, HFS inspired him to volunteer and help in the community, and prepared him to find success academically and take on student leadership positions. For Marisol, well, her words said it best:
“Tout comme Andrew, j’ai aussi fait mes débuts à HFS à l’âge de six ans lorsque j’accompagnais ma mère dans sa classe de première année. It was at that age that I used to roam the halls and admired the job of being a teacher. It is in these halls that I fell in love with the smell of books, the blackboards, the red pens and the stickers. It is in these halls that I learned what being a teacher really meant. It meant learning every day, you as much as the student, and it meant to work hard to achieve the ultimate goal… success in all spheres of life.
This might be cliche but for us teachers this school represents love and family. Through the years, teachers and students have faced challenges, heartbreaks, victories, successes… and we are all there for each other. We take care of each other and have created beautiful friendships. It is with this philosophy that everyday we teach and learn as a team. We not only support each other, we celebrate each other and we want our students to know how proud we are of them.
Tous les jours, je me considère chanceuse. Je me considère chanceuse d’être ici parmis vous ce soir. Je me considère chanceuse de pouvoir travailler avec des professeurs et des élèves aussi fantastiques mais surtout je me considère chanceuse de travailler pour une école qui aime sa communauté et qui désire le meilleur pour sa grande famille. HFS is a place of love and family.”
We could have not said it better ourselves.