My name is Shaelyn Newell. I was born in Quesnel, B.C. but in 2010 at the age of 9, my family moved to Prince George, B.C. I graduated from Prince George Secondary School and then decided to follow my mom’s footsteps and go on an exchange program. I spent 7 months in the Champagne region of France, unfortunately it was shortened from 10 months to 7 when the COVID pandemic hit, and I had to go home a little early. I came home and attended UNBC where I completed by B.A. in Anthropology and I am now in the B.Ed. program. During my time at UNBC I rejoined Girl Guides and have been a leader since 2023. I believe the most important things in life are your family, friends and community. Everyone should have someone looking out for them and someone to look out for. I enjoy travelling and adventuring, whether its going for a walk in a park or voyaging far and wide. Some of my favourite travels are to the Maasai Mara (Kenya, Africa), hiking the Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park, and going to Disneyland.
I have spent most of my working life at my family’s company, Kopar Administration where I worked my way up from general office assistant to receptionist to job coach. From there I decided I enjoyed job coaching and helping people grow and learn but wanted to be out on my own. I applied to SD57 and was hired as a casual EA, eventually finding a full-time position at Hart Highlands Elementary. This cemented in me a desire to earn my teaching certificate with the goal of having my own classroom.
Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, it just took some time to figure out what I wanted to teach. I was the stereotypical eldest daughter making her little sister play school, doing spelling and math quizzes just for fun. Honestly, the best part was seeing her face when she got the answers right and she got a nice sticker on the top of her “homework”. While my sister was able to find joy in sitting and learning from me, learning does need to be more than just sitting and listening to a lecture all the time. There is an importance in getting outside, learning hands on, or in a more interactive way. As I have learned so far through Girl Guides and personal learning, there is only so long someone can sit still and digest the information being told to them. You need to be able to interact and understand why you are learning the information.
Finally, this is my dog. His name is Foster. 🙂
