Jarvis's Latest Vice
A look at our new vice principal
As a new school year is already well underway, there are many exciting things happening within
the halls of Jarvis: a large campaign has been launched to build a school in Sierra Leone; preparations are in the making
for Jarvis’s Bicentennial celebration in May, and many new staff members have joined the ranks of the Jarvis faculty. Among these newcomers is Jarvis’s new senior vice principal, Ms. Hicks.
“I’d say from the very beginning it’s been a very, very positive experience for me,” says Ms. Hicks regarding her first impressions of Jarvis. “I’ve been at many downtown Toronto schools and what I love about them is the richness in terms of diversity and the multicultural mix of the students.”
Among other things, Ms. Hicks is also impressed with the number of extra-curricular clubs at Jarvis and with the school's long history. “I was born and raised in Toronto and I just love the idea that it’s 200 hundred years old and has such a history tied to the city. I’ve mentioned it to a number of people already, that my grandfather went to the school here and is named in the rotunda as one of the students who went off and served in WWI and came back alive and that, too, is something that really excites me to be a part of.”
Before Ms. Hicks’s arrival at Jarvis, she was a vice principal at Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute for three years, and, prior to that, a vice principal at Central Tech. But Ms. Hicks wasn’t always a member of the administration. Before her role as VP, Ms. Hicks served her tour of duty as an English teacher at Bloor Collegiate and Rosedale Heights.
Ms. Hicks got into teaching because of her enjoyment of working with young people. “What I love about teaching is being part of the creative process with kids and taking on projects with them and learning with them and so it’s always been vibrant and about growth and improvement along with them.”
While discussing her transition to administration she adds that, “as a student, teachers gave me leadership opportunities and the same process facilitated the move from teacher to a VP. I had not previously thought of administration as an option, but it was a principal who tapped me on the shoulder and gave me leadership opportunities and made me see that I could do it. I think that’s often what a good teacher does: opens possibilities for kids.”
And what possibilities is Ms. Hicks planning to open for the students of Jarvis? “I would like to be a support to staff and students in ways that improve this place, and I think I’m going to need to be here a little while to understand what my role might be. We’ll have to see where my strengths and Jarvis’s needs meet.”
Ms. Hicks feels strongly about the power of teachers, and the long-lasting effects they can have on students. “There are a lot of teachers' voices that [students] will find perhaps a little bit persistent or overly insistent at this point in their lives, but they’ll hear those voices echoing through their heads years from now. It sounds a bit odd but I definitely have lessons I learned in high school that still guide me on days when I’m having difficulty
or frustrations.”
And so, Ms. Hicks would like to leave Jarvis students with these words to remember: “I’d like them to know how important it is to make really good use of these years; these years are the foundation for the rest of their lives and anything is possible.”
JargOnline 2006 - 2007 