NGPS Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Ms. Trista St. Martin has been selected as the Division’s nominee to the Alberta School Boards’ Association’s Edwin Parr Selection Committee. Ms. St. Martin teaches Grade 6 at Percy Baxter School in Whitecourt.

NGPS schools were invited to submit a comprehensive nomination package identifying an outstanding first year teacher to serve as NGPS’ Edwin Parr nominee.

“Ms. St. Martin’s commitment to teaching and to a student-focused approach within her school and classroom communities is exemplary,” said NGPS Superintendent Kevin Andrea. “We are incredibly fortunate to have excellent first-year teachers like Ms. St. Martin working with our students on a daily basis.”

In support of her nomination, Ms. St. Martin is described as a teacher who knows her students and their learning styles well, is adept at differentiating lessons to meet the different needs of students and as a teacher who is consistently looking for methods to engage her students and provide them with opportunities to understand the world they live in. Collaboration is a cornerstone in Ms. St. Martin’s classroom.

“Ms. St. Martin is an outstanding first year teacher. She is both very skilled and dedicated. She has created a dynamic and positive classroom and her professionalism and ability to connect with both students and parents alike are especially noteworthy.” – Assistant Principal, Linda Wigton, Percy Baxter School

In addition to core and options programming for her Grade 6 class, Ms. St. Martin has, in her first year of teaching, organized a Project Based Learning activity which involved community members and obtaining funding through community donations. She presented the project at the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium conference focusing on cross curricular competencies. She has created a Humanitarian Club at Percy Baxter, coached the junior girls volleyball team and assisted with the Percy Baxter School running club. Her students are currently involved in a Global Read Aloud Program that connects them to other classrooms around the world, while reading the same novel.

Ms. St. Martin graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies and a Bachelor of Education. She grew up in Whitecourt, attending the very school she teaches at now.

“It is such an honour and a joy to be nominated and the students are really excited about it too. All the time and hard work, and our celebrations and challenges within the classroom, have all helped me become a better teacher.” – Trista St. Martin, Grade 6 teacher, Edwin Parr nominee.

The Alberta School Boards’ Association established the Edwin Parr Teacher Award to honour outstanding first year teachers in Alberta and to remember the long and meritorious service of past President Edwin Parr.