1973: I Become Silvacan Elementary School

 The photo shows the Camp’s Recreation Building (on the right), that also served as our school.

    Since all of the other public schools in BC had already begun classes two weeks earlier, I had to do some quick preparations and create a school and begin teaching immediately.  This was a big job because, I WAS the school, as I quickly learned.  Not only was I the only classroom teacher, I soon discovered that I was also the principal, the maintenance man, the janitor, the secretary, the health nurse, and the “school bus” driver.  

             There was no one there to help guide me in these tasks, or to tell me what to do.  I had to figure everything out for myself.  It certainly didn’t help that I had never even been in a Canadian school to witness the daily routines or the educational materials used, and since there had never been a school at the Silvacan mill, there were absolutely no educational supplies at all, since the school district hadn’t been sure that they would be able to find a teacher.

            During my four years of university, which gave me the training and education to earn my bachelor degree in elementary education, no one had ever even mentioned teaching in a one-room school, let alone explain how to manage one.  All of my practical, hands-on experience had been in large multi-teacher city and suburban schools.  What I found myself thrust into, was a totally new and unknown experience.

    Frank (the Silvacan Mill’s Camp Boss) told me that the school, (named Silvacan Elementary School) would be held in the camp's "Recreation Building".  I quickly planned for classes for the next day, although I hadn’t a clue as to how many students I might have, what grades they might be in, or what their abilities might be.  

            Since it hadn't been a certain that there was going to be a school at Silvacan, the mill workers didn’t yet moved their families to the camp.  There was however a First Nation's  family that lived in a cabin (photo below) down by the dock on Takla Lake, where our had plane landed, who had school-aged kids, and they turned out to be my only students when the school opened.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca