Author Description

Having been interviewed and hired via a collect long-distance phone call, I had taken on the role of teacher and principal in a two-room schoolhouse in Manyberries Alberta. I was a 22-year-old, smart-ass Ontario city boy and I had no idea what I was getting into.I was put in charge of seventy kids and two other teachers. I was to live in a ‘teacherage’ with no electricity, no running water, no plumbing, a rickety outhouse, and an infestation of mice that would have challenged the Pied Piper. No friends, no one to ask for help. I learned many life lessons during my time in Manyberries – how to be independent, how to think on my feet, how to cope with whatever came my way and the value of learning from my mistakes.But most importantly, I learned from the kids.