We at Edsby salute formative teachers
Some flattering pics of Edsby staff from their childhoods, with reflections on most meaningful teachers.
H.E. Scott Welch – VP Special Projects
Sheila Perry taught Grade 10 English at Fort Richmond Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I needed an extra half-credit, and looking through the course catalog I saw something called “Public Speaking.” I thought it looked easy, so I signed up. On the very first day, Ms. Perry told us, “everybody needs to know how to give a proper speech, even if the only two they ever give will be at their wedding and their retirement.”
As we progressed through the year, I realized it doesn’t matter what area of work you go into, you’re going to need to convince somebody about something. You’re going to need to argue your case, promote your idea, beg for funding, get a crowd whipped up, or even do a bit of corporate brown-nosing. In every case, the ability to speak well is paramount.
Looking back now, I can say without a shred of doubt that it was the single most useful course I ever took in my life. As a startup co-founder, product evangelist, CEO, product manager, and now startup co-founder again, the communication tools I learned to use in Grade 10 are deployed every single day. I would not be where I am today without the skills that Ms. Perry taught me thirty-five years ago. Wherever you are, Ms. Perry, thanks from the bottom of my heart. You changed my life for the better, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Jon Asbury – VP Design
Favorite teacher: Mr Edwards, the headmaster, despite getting the strap from him twice. 🙂 Also. Mr Peacock was great, and Miss Adey.
Karen Woods – Director of Sales
I played tons of sports at school, including with the Laura Secord Patriots, and and am so thankful for those teachers that spent the extra hours they did supporting extracurricular activities.
Opportunities for sports team comraderie, dedication, focus and developing new skills wouldn’t be possible without teachers like Mrs. Matsushita!
Mark Stewart – Quality Assurance
A few teachers who stood out to me were those who shared their passion like Mr. Morse, our biology teacher who would collect road kill on the way to school and Mr. Henaut, our English teacher that shared his love of Shakespeare with us. Also Jimmy Hale, who would on occasion interrupt my class via intercom to ask if I could come fix the computers in the lab, knowing that was a strong area of interest to me. To those, and all the others, I give my thanks and appreciation for all the effort they put into expanding our young minds.
Dallas Kachan – VP Marketing
I’m indebted to two teachers in particular: Lina Rody, who taught me the basics of the three R’s in a small school in Northern Ontario and the benefits of good, careful notetaking. And Russ Holden at Ryerson for installing the realities of broadcast writing and deadlines (muttering “time marches on!” walking through the aisles as we banged out stories on ancient Selectrics.) I would not be where I am and have enjoyed the experiences I have without the valuable guidance of these two great teachers, whose lessons extended far beyond where they likely thought they would.
Quinton Coish – Engineering
My favourite teacher was my grade 6 French teacher, Mr. Shawn Smyth at R.H. Cornish in Port Perry, Ontario. He really loved his job and always made learning fun. He’d go above and beyond by creating clubs for students to join, such as Guitar Club or Miniature Painting Club. He helped organize a grade 6 class trip to Québec where we got to immerse ourselves in everything French. He even helped run fundraising programs to raise money for the extracurricular activities so everyone would have the opportunity to participate. I was one of the few students who wasn’t going to join the class on the trip to Québec until Mr. Smyth handed me a letter to bring home. I didn’t know until many years later but I got to go for free because of those fundraising programs. It’s a trip my friends still talk about today. One of them pooped his pants on that trip and we still laugh about it!