HPEC/GEOEC Conference Awards
GEOEC 2017 Award of Merit
Paul Kelba
GEOEC 2017 Appreciation of Service Award
Simon Ham
HPEC 2017 Distinguished Service Award
Heather Rootsaert
The HPEC Distinguished Service Award is one of the highest honors HPEC has to bestow on a current or past HPEC member. An individual receiving this award must have performed distinguished, meritorious, and special service as a leader in the field of health and/or physical education. The 2017 HPEC Distinguished Service Award goes to Heather Rootsaert.
Heather has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of health and physical education. She has been an executive member on the HPEC executive for countless years working to progress health and physical education teaching throughout the province. Heather shared her expertise in her many HPEC executive roles. Heather has served on the HPEC executive in a number of positions including: Regional Representative, PHE Canada Liaison, President Elect, President, Past President and Conference Chair for both the 2007 and 2014 HPEC Conferences. Heather continues to serve the HPEC executive through her role on the 2017 HPEC/GEOEC No Limits Steering Committee.
Heather also shares her expertise through presenting at conferences and teacher conventions. She is always willing to share her best practices and what she believes in. Many health and physical education teachers have been mentored by Heather in the areas of physical literacy, assessment, curriculum and pedagogy.
Heather is often described as hard-working, dedicated, enthusiastic, creative, innovative, motivating, inspiring, passionate and professional. She always finds balance with her family life with three kids and a husband, her teaching, her coaching, her refereeing, her own personal professional development and her contributions to the field of health and physical education on both a provincial and national level.
Currently, Heather is a member of the Alberta Education Wellness Education Curriculum Development Working Group where she is helping shape the future of health and physical education in the province. Just last week Heather was awarded the National Award for Teaching Excellence in Physical Education at the PHE Canada Conference in Newfoundland.
With Heather’s commitment to making a difference in Health and Physical Education in Alberta she is a highly deserving recipient of the HPEC Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations Heather!
HPEC 2017 Robert Routledge Address
Allan Shea
Growing up in a family of seven athletic children, Al’s parents would spend their time driving from field to field, or from rink to rink, in their giant New Yorker car dropping them off one at a time, only to circle back at the end of the loop to pick them all back up again. Four of his siblings were in high school at the same time as Al, playing several sports each, with up to three brothers on a single team. At the end of high school, Al decided that sports and teaching were his passion, and decided to pursue them professionally as a high school teacher and coach, and since then has never looked back. Al went on to study at the University of Western and University of Toronto, while playing both varsity volleyball and basketball for the University of Western Mustangs and varsity volleyball for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Continuing the family tradition of friendly competition, he played face to face against one brother through the volleyball net, at the Provincial University Volleyball Championships. After graduation, Al moved West with his wife and high school sweetheart Myra, where they both fell in love with the mountains and have been living ever since. Starting at the age of nineteen and continuing into “retirement,” (in which he works as much as ever) he tirelessly coached countless players from aged five into adulthood, taking twenty teams to Alberta Provincial Championships from the small town of Hinton, Alberta. Eighteen of his players went on to play college and university sports, two players were on the provincial basketball team and one was an All-Canadian College basketball player. He has coached soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, slo-pitch, and baseball, and taught whitewater canoeing and wilderness survival. He has enjoyed his life tremendously, and has continued to do so into “retirement.” We are pleased to have Allan presenting the Robert Routledge Address.
PHE Canada 2017 Dr. Andy Anderson Young Professional Award
Collin Dillon
The PHE Canada Dr. Andy Anderson Young Professional Award is given out each year to one individual per province that best epitomizes exemplary work on behalf of the profession. The recipient of this year’s award is Collin Dillon.
Collin started teaching in 2012 in Rainbow Lake, Alberta as a rural teacher responsible for multiple subject areas. After two years teaching in this remote location, Collin moved to Grande Prairie to teach at St. Joseph Academy High School in the areas of math and physical education. In Collin’s short career to date, he has accomplished a great deal. Collin serves on the Board of Directors for the Student Leadership Conference Alumni Association, which is a not for profit organization comprised of leaders and decision makers from the areas of recreation, sport, education and active living. Collin coaches both football and basketball at St. Joseph. Collin is active on the HPEC executive. He served as a one of the HPEC 2016 Conference Co-Chairs for the conference held at Grande Prairie Regional College. Collin is the HPEC executive member in charge of both the HPEC website and HPEC social media. Collin served on Jasper’s HPEC/GEOEC 2017 No Limits Steering Committee as website chair and will also serve on the Calgary HPEC 2018 HPEC Conference Finding Balance Steering Committee again as website chair. Collin has previously been awarded the PHE Canada Student Leadership Award. Collin continues to pursue his own professional development by attending national and provincial conferences such as: TAPHE Conference 2012-2013, PHE Canada Conference 2015, and the Physical Literacy Summit 2016. Collin was chosen by the Alberta Government to serve on the Wellness Education Curriculum Development Group which is helping to develop new health and physical education curriculum for K-12 students in Alberta over the next three years.
Collin is a strong voice in the field of health and physical education at an early age in his teaching career. He serves as a role model for others in this field and it is an honor to award Collin with the PHE Canada Dr. Andy Anderson Young Professional Award.
Congratulations Collin!
HPEC 2017 Certificate of Commendation Award Winners by Region
Southeast
Chad Watson
Chad is a physical education instructor at Medicine Hat High School and has been involved with teaching physical literacy throughout Medicine Hat High and other schools around the city. He has been working on ways to inform teachers across the grades how to improve their PE lessons through informative and collaborative professional development sessions chaired at the Southeast Alberta Teacher’s Convention. Chad has been involved in a variety of youth sports which include softball, soccer, and basketball. Chad has coached boys basketball for over 15 years and won the 2006 and 2007 1A Zone Provincial Championships. In 2014 Chad’s senior boys basketball team won the 4a South Zone Championship and placed 3rd place at the 4A Provincials. A few other highlights on Chad’s resume include earning the 2013, 2014, and 2016 Coach of the Year Award for 4a South Zone Alberta Basketball League and head coaching the 2004 u16 Boys Provincial team. He is friendly, hardworking, funny, and dedicated to helping others and always looking at ways to improve.
Chad Watson has committed his time and effort to helping youth appreciate physical literacy. His ability to develop rapport with his students and the community has led to many former students helping to coach or attend post-secondary institutions on athletic scholarships. More importantly, Chad has inspired many former students to enter the teaching profession where his passion for wellness and physical activity has been grandfathered down to future generations. Balancing a family, a career, and his love for sport, Chad has demonstrated that he is without a doubt a deserving candidate for the certificate of commendation award.
Calgary
Lisa Taylor
Lisa Taylor is a Learning Leader-Physical Education at Lord Beaverbrook High School in Calgary. At the district level, Lisa has actively participated in and provided leadership to Comprehensive School Health initiatives and workshops in Alberta. At the school level, Lisa provides leadership to a large team of physical education teachers. In addition to her leadership with curriculum, Lisa has also initiated and developed a School Wellness Action Team. Through her leadership as a Wellness Champion, students, staff and parents have become involved in and supportive of a larger school wellness initiative (SWAT). In addition, Lisa shares her expertise with others in the field by regularly presenting capacity building PD sessions related to her #active365 movement on Twitter and by contributing to physical education and health PLC work within the CBE network. She has presented at the online 2016 PhysEd Summit hosted by PHYSEDAGOGY, as well as at annual HPEC and Shaping the Future Conferences.
As Learning Leader for Physical Education at Lord Beaverbrook, Lisa accepted responsibility to help transition and transform the physical education program where expectations for learning were not clear, student voice was non-existent, student engagement was declining. Lisa took on the responsibility to work with a team of teachers to revamp expectations for student learning in Physical Education. This work has included changing learning expectations, broadening student assessment and evaluation to include student self and peer evaluation, consistency in program delivery, teaching and learning more strongly connected to an Active Living philosophy aligned with the Alberta Education Program of Studies. She has worked tirelessly to increase the opportunity for students to have input into their learning and voice into the program that is offered to students. As a result, students feel more engaged in the classroom, teachers are making more adjustments to ensure student learning needs are accommodated, and registration in the program is increasing. Through Professional Learning Support at the school level Lisa has in tandem with individuals on the Physical Education team begun to examine individual units of instruction to improve learning activities for students.
Lisa’s sphere of influence is significant, from enabling students, student leadership, leadership on the LBHS Administrative Leadership Team, with staff and parents. She values and recognizes the importance of relationship and involvement with all individuals in the school community. With students Lisa listens to students and works with students to enact change. Through SWAT and Team Leadership courses, Lisa has empowered students to develop projects that bring and add value to the school community at Lord Beaverbrook. With the Administrative Leadership Team, Lisa has found her voice. She provides honest input and a perspective that is balanced to all discussions. She is mature beyond her years in balancing what is good for the individual versus what might be best for the whole student body or school. With staff and parents, she is fearless in her pursuit of helping to address issues of wellness for everyone in our LBHS school community. Her honesty, energy and passion are admired.
Lisa Taylor is an engaging individual who brings a positive “can-do” attitude to the workplace and any task. The energy she brings to the work environment is infectious and impactful on those around her. She is a collaborator, innovator, and team player, and is well-respected by those in the physical and health education community. While accepting others and being willing to work within the strengths of others, she also holds others to high level of expectation for performance. She is willing to address concerns and to hold others to account for their actions in a way that changes performance for the better at the same time as upholding the dignity of the individual. Lisa models a healthy active lifestyle through her work and personal life and truly 'walks the talk', leading the way by example by being #active365! Congratulations, Lisa!
Don Marchuk
Don Marchuk has been teaching with the Calgary Catholic School District for 14 years. He is an essential staff member at every school he’s taught at. Although Physical Education is Don’s primary teaching area, he has also taught math, social studies and K&E.
Don has been at St. Francis High School for the past 10 years and is currently the Physical Education CT, where he leads an outstanding Physical Education program filled with opportunities for all students to succeed. Don is passionate about being active and as such, presents his students with a plethora of opportunities to try out new activities. He has incorporated Fitness Fridays, Girls Only fitness options at the 20/30 level, as well as started an Active Girls for Life Symposium Day with a variety of guest speakers from National Teams, Calgary and area fitness professionals, and Kinesiologists. To follow up with this successful endeavor, next year they will also be hosting a boy’s symposium as well.
Don also is committed to Athletics. He has coached Sr. Boys basketball his entire career, along with many other sports at all levels. He runs various basketball and volleyball tournaments, not only for his school but also involving feeder schools.
Don is a great role model to all students and treats everyone with dignity and respect. He is always ready to try new things, and lend a helping hand whenever and wherever needed. Everything Don does is approached with a smile and positive attitude. Don is a creative thinker and excellent problem solver, and is always willing to be involved in tasks at the district level. He has helped and presented at many district PD sessions and coaching clinics, along with always being one of the first to share many of his ideas and skills with our Calgary Catholic School District Colleagues. Don has also been an active leader on our district’s Physical Literacy Committee.
Don represented HPEC and was a Co-RR for Calgary for many years, contributing to the organization and a variety of presentations of many Drive-In workshops, and in-services through the Health and Physical Education lens. Congratulations Don!
Northwest
Leslie Griffin
Leslie was the HPEC Conference 2016 co-chair. She is a Professional Learning Communities contributor. She was very knowledgeable and critical in the success of HPEC 2016 in Grande Prairie, where she handled the registration diligently, coordinating the various aspects with skill and patience. In her district Professional Learning Communities work, she contributed ideas and shared her enthusiasm with others in times of need to push forward on the task to provide her colleagues with quality Professional Development in the Physical Education and Health in Alberta. Leslie is one of the most dedicated people in teaching that I know and she is committed to Health and Physical Education and Coaching for all her students. Her students remember being in her P.E. classes as she perseveres with their development and is always willing to try new activities and sports that she learns throughout her professional development.
Leslie has an unfailing dedication to providing an active learning environment for the children she teaches has been an inspiration to us all. HPEC 2016 was a success, in large part due to her efforts coordinating all aspects of registration. Leslie is kind and thoughtful, always considering what is best for the students. Her dedication to excellence in teaching is obvious every day. Congratulations Leslie!
Nichole Sander
Nichole has provided PD sessions offering dance as well as active PE involving all students. She continues to be a valuable member of the PE Professional Learning Communities work, contributing on a regular basis. She contributed many hours toward making the HPEC 2016 conference a success as a member of the conference committee, organizing our logo, clothing and coordinating development and delivery on time.
Nichole's passion for PE is very apparent and she is a daily role model for her students and colleagues. The time and effort that she puts into improving and enriching the PE experience of her students is apparent each and every class. She is always willing to go above and beyond when it comes to coaching as well as giving up her time to make sure her students are getting quality PE instruction and the experience they all deserve.
Nichole is an active member in the community as well, teaching dance, playing and coaching ultimate frisbee and volleyball, and the list goes on. She is often seen counselling and coaching students in her school day, between classes, after school and during her lunch break.
Nichole has coached many Jr. high teams to championships in basketball and volleyball over the years. In addition she fills the role of PE coordinator in her school where she is the "go to" person. I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Nichole for over 6 years. From day one I knew that our school had hit the jackpot in the PE department. She is kind, giving of her time and energy, thoughtful and very dedicated to improving the learning experience of the students in her school. Nichole is very deserving of this award and I am proud to call her a fellow PE educator and friend! Congratulations Nichole!
Central East
Richard Dupre
Without doubt, Richard Dupre is one of the most gifted teachers I have ever worked with. Richard instills all of his love and expertise of sports and health to his students. During his last two and a half years at CHSPS, Richard has coached Junior High Volleyball, Senior High Basketball, Junior and Senior High Badminton, Track and Field, and Team Handball. In addition to his coaching, Richard also started a Senior High Hockey Class. This learning opportunity has given students an opportunity to refine their hockey skills while being under the direction of an amazing athlete. Additionally, Richard has made it a habit to arrive early at school in the mornings, open our workout gym and help students with their athletic conditioning.
Mr. Dupre is an extremely competent and confident teacher. Students in his class are engaged and inspired. PE class has become the most sought after class in our school because of Richard Dupre. Richard works with his students so they can become athletes; no matter their previous experience or interest in sports. The pedagogical routines that Richard has embedded into his classes are equal to those of a teacher who has taught for decades. Richard ability to differentiate is outstanding. He seamlessly integrates all physical abilities into his lesson plans. Richard includes students in wheelchairs and limited mobility into his daily teaching. No one feels like they are unable to participate in Richard’s classes. Mr. Dupre is an inclusive learning teacher and leader. Congratulations Richard!
Central West
Roger Redman
Roger is a physical education specialist at École Pine Grove Middle School (EGPMS) in Edson. He is a leader in both his community and the west yellowhead region of Alberta. He focuses on providing numerous physical education opportunities for students regardless of their school choice, socio-economic status, gender, age or ability. He has been involved in a variety of areas in physical education and athletics over the past 25 plus years, and has dedicated countless volunteer hours to coaching, mentorship, and community sport programs.
Roger is currently the Director of Athletics at EPGMS and is a founding member of the Greater Yellowhead Athletic Conference (GYAC). This organization, for schools in the West Yellowhead Region, has organized athletic competition for students in grades 5-9 from four different school divisions, and currently includes schools from Jasper, Grande Cache, Hinton, Edson, Niton Junction, Evansburg and Wildwood. Under Roger’s Leadership and Guidance GYAC has students participating in Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Track and Field, Cross Country Running, Wrestling and Golf.
Roger continues to lead by example in the community and is a well-respected voice on numerous community initiatives. He has had a longstanding involvement in the regional soccer program. He has been a Technical Director of the Alberta Soccer Association and he has coordinated and instructed summer soccer camps in a variety of local communities. Roger has been a Director of the Edson Minor Soccer Association for over 25 years and has lead Edson in flawlessly hosting numerous Provincial Soccer Competitions.
Roger is an exemplary member of the teaching profession who displays dedication and energy everyday both inside and outside of the classroom. Congratulations Roger!
Greater Edmonton
Jennifer Foster
Jennifer Foster is a physical education specialist at Woodhaven Middle School in Spruce Grove. Her contributions to health and physical education are outstanding. She devotes countless hours to her students in and outside the classroom. She coaches volleyball, basketball, badminton, and track teams. Not only does she spend many hours teaching and coaching, she also helps organize many extracurricular activities such as the schools lunch time intramurals. She helps organize an annual fall volleyball league and an annual spring basketball league for our younger students all in an effort to allow them to have fun, develop their skills, and connect to our school community.
Jennifer not only gives her time and efforts to students in our school but she also gives back to all the students in Parkland School Division. Jennifer serves as the basketball commissioner on the West Central Junior High Athletic Association, where she helps organize the basketball league and county championships. She is also part of the organizing team for our school volleyball, basketball, and badminton tournaments that hosts many schools from all over the Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, St. Albert, and Edmonton area.
Jennifer is highly organized in her teaching, lesson planning, and coaching. Building meaningful relationships is one of her strengths. She is well liked by her students and has a knack for getting their best efforts from them. Promoting physical literacy and increasing student engagement is a passion for her.
Jennifer has taken her own professional development seriously in her career. She continues to attend and promote numerous health and physical education sessions in our school division, the annual HPEC sessions at the North Central Teachers Convention, and the annual HPEC provincial conference. Jennifer has also taken the lead on division wide PD days to run physical education sessions for division staff not only to share the great work and resources she has to offer, but to connect the different physical education teachers in the school division. Congratulations Jennifer!
Edmonton
Philippe Chaylt
Phil has been a part of Ever Active Schools, Apple schools and HPEC and Ophea over the past three years. He contributes monthly to his staff development. Phil has been involved attending the HPEC conferences and learning from his peers. Phil has been the lead of an Apple school at Holy Cross school in Edmonton. He has revamped the nutritional guidelines for the school allowing only healthy foods to come to school. This has required parent/student and teacher education. It has been very successful. He also developed a cross graded intramural system where the students play non conventional games and all students earn points for their " league house". This is a year long points system where the students can attain the apple league trophy. He also runs monthly seminars for the teachers on staff to give them new ideas of activity breaks or nutrition ideas for their classroom. He teaches them what physical literacy means so they in turn can help their students in all subject areas.
Phil has been working on physical literacy in his classroom and in the school. With his choice of activities he is allowing the students to gain confidence in a wide range of physical activity situations. Students are excited to come to his class and clubs/teams. Phil has a positive impact on the community and school environment by leading by example. Being a physically literate person himself it is easy for the students to follow him. He allows the students to be involved in a wide variety of physical activities in multiple environments that benefit the development of the whole student. Phil is still new to teaching, however he will be moving mountains and achieving many awards as he progresses through his career. Phil is a dedicated, hardworking and passionate teacher. He puts in countless hours everyday teaching and coaching. He begins his day by biking to work at 6 am, coaching in the morning, teaching all day and coaching another team in the evening. He is dedicated to his students and allowing all students to participate. He is an energetic teacher who loves instilling the passion for physical education to his students and co-workers. Congratulations Phil!
Janay Bazin
As a relatively new teacher, Janay is brand new to HPEC this year! She is attending her first conference of what we hope will be the start of many! Janay represents her school as their Health Champion and has for the past couple of years. As part of this role she attends at least three half day sessions over the course of the school year. She is responsible for bringing the information back to her school and sharing it with the staff & ultimately the students. As far as extracurricular activities, Janay is the free footie soccer coach as well as the Cross Country running and Indoor Running Room Games coach. When Janay is not teaching her Gr. 1-6 PE classes, she teaches a high energy Gr. 4/5 split. Whether in her health and physical education classes or in her Math, Social or Religion classes, Janay has worked hard to make cross curricular connections that are relevant and meaningful for all of her students. Recently while mtg. with the admin. team to share highlights of their week, a student told the principal that, "PE was way better this year. Ms. Bazin makes it so fun and she teaches us things about eating healthy and taking care of our bodies."
Although Janay is still early in her teaching career she is already experiencing several successes at her school. Janay is eager to better herself as a PE & Health teacher with her students always in mind. She has some neat ideas in the works including the production of a student tried, tested and created cookbook around healthy, affordable choices. Janay comes across as a quiet, reserved person but she is full of passion and compassion for her job and her students. Janay is a wonderful role model for her students and colleagues alike. She leads a healthy, active lifestyle and is always willing to share her recipes and ideas with others.
In addition to attending district PD on Physical Literacy, Janay was recently part of a Physical Literacy PD opportunity entitled "The Nuts & Bolts of Physical Literacy" which brought teachers from Edmonton Public and Edmonton Catholic together for two days to be immersed in all things Physical Literacy. Janay made some great connections and had the opportunity to network. Janay's school, St. Jerome, is part of the EAS/Jump Start Physical Literacy Mentorship Program and as such Janay is the Lead teacher for their school. This will give her the opportunity to share with her staff as well as continue to advocate for her program. Congratulations Janay!
Certificate of Commendation Awards not awarded in the following Regions
Greater Calgary
Northeast
Central