The Arrow Lakes News recently met with with Peter Gajda, the new principal at Nakusp Senior Secondary. This is the third in our Meet the Teacher series.
ALN: Where are you from?
Gajda: I grew up in Windsor, Ontario, and lived there until my university days. My university degrees are from there, and then I started moving west. My teaching degree is from Saskatchewan, and my first teaching job was in Haida Gwai, back in 1992. From there, I went to the Okanagan, and then here.
ALN: Where did you go to university?
Gajda: I attended the University of Windsor for my science degree, and my work at the University of Guelph as a research assistant at the university and a scientist for a number of years. That took me out doing field work in the Arctic and most of North America. I did my teaching degree at the University of Regina.
ALN: How do you go from being a research assistant to a teacher?
Gajda: I was doing research in Iqaluit, doing a study for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the research centre got a phone call that the teacher that was supposed to come up and work at the school had an emergency with his wife and he was going to stay down in Ottawa a bit longer, and would I fill in as the teacher for a week or so? I thought, ‘Why not?’ I found I really enjoyed it, and decided the direction I wanted to go was to be a science and math teacher. When I got back to Windsor I started at looking at doing that instead.
ALN: How did you hear about the job at Nakusp Secondary School?
Gajda: I had been seriously applying out for administrative roles for the last two or three years, while I was teaching in the Okanagan, and this just happened to be one. It just happened to come up at the end of the school year in early July, so I applied and here I am.
ALN: What do you think of Nakusp Secondary School?
Gajda: It’s a great building, fantastic, energetic staff, people that want to work with kids, and the kids are hungry to learn. The kids want an environment that’s safe, where they can be heard, and I’m enjoying the challenge of trying to be the leader in such a place.
ALN: You’re about two months into the school year, how are things going?
Gajda: The first three or four weeks were a learning curve. This is my first administrative job, and some days it’s tough to get 15 minutes of uninterrupted time. It’s been really hectic, but now we can focus on some of the nuts and bolts things. We’re currently redesigning some stuff in the library, moving some furniture around and some book cases out so it becomes more of a classroom space. We’ve put some new water fountains in the school, which was one of the things the kids asked for right off the bat, water fountains where they can fill their bottles. We’re looking at adjusting the menu at Cougar Snacks. We’re moving some things forward that are not necessarily classroom based, but make the school a place they want to be at, and once they’re there, the teachers provide them with a great opportunity, learning is going to happen.
ALN: Do you see yourself staying here long-term?
Gajda: My wife and I have bought a house in the area, and this, I’m hoping, will be my last job until I retire.
