Education News Spring 2022 | Page 5

Education News | Page 5 maker : Tranforming schools and society

Grad student and teacher Keilyn Howie ( BEd ’ 19 ) is a change maker . Keilyn ’ s lived experiences have given her a drive to make schools and society safe for racialized minorities . se education ransform cieties . We e that kids what I went as younger .”

Growing up in Saskatoon , Saskatchewan in the 90s with a White family taught Keilyn what it feels like to be different . “ I come with my own privileges because I was born and raised in Saskatchewan , but in a lot of ways as I was growing up I was made to feel very different , and it was quite obvious I was very different , and I was treated differently ,” she says .
Following an initial unsuccessful attempt at university , Keilyn moved to Regina in 2011 where she met a Black professor who encouraged her to go into education : “ I was helping her out at Footlocker , where I worked , and she said , ‘ You would make a really great teacher ! You should go into education .’”
Though Keilyn couldn ’ t envision herself as a teacher at the time , she was still drawn to the field of education because she had a younger brother with autism , and she had witnessed her mother ’ s impact as an advocate for him and his needs in the public school system . When Keilyn took a job with the Autism Resource Centre , she was motivated by their requirements to work on her Educational Assistant ( EA ) certificate .
Photo credit : Shuana Niessen
Later , in 2014 , while working with Regina Public Schools ( RPS ) as an EA , Keilyn had the privilege of working with a teacher who inspired her to become a teacher : “ I was with an amazing educator who was so inspirational , just the way she worked with students . I was so touched and moved and I thought ‘ I want to be like that .’ She encouraged me to go to university to get my education degree .” The RPS community school she was working in
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