Two deserving former educators of Niverville Collegiate were presented with the Loran Scholars Foundation Teachers Building Leaders Award on June 27 at an award ceremony in Niverville. The national award was given to Ms. Angela Burtnack-Schinkel and Ms. Dana Dueck.

To receive the award for Ms. Dueck was her mother, Wilma Keating. Dueck’s teaching career ended tragically in 2012 when she died as the result of a motorcycle accident.

Former NCI student Lauren Wiebe nominated the teachers for the award. In 2015, Wiebe herself was a recipient of the Loran Scholarship, having been selected from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants on the basis of character, service, and leadership.

In Wiebe’s remarks at the ceremony, she sought to honour Dueck and Burtnack-Schinkel  for having made an impact on her life.

“I am here today to honour and say thank you to two people in particular who drastically shaped my journey and will continue to through my whole life,” Wiebe told the gathered crowd. “Ms. Dueck was my teacher, coach, mentor, and friend and I deeply wish that she was here today to receive this award… [She] fulfilled the definition of kindness every single day in the classroom. She wanted everyone of all learning styles to feel thought of, and she often did this through ensuring her classes were fun so everyone would feel at ease and welcome.”

Ms. Burtnack-Schinkel served as NCI’s vice principal during Wiebe’s high school years. Wiebe describes her as powerful while maintaining unconditional kindness. She was also a key contributor to emotional healing for Wiebe and the entire school after Dueck’s tragic passing.

“Her acts enabled me to understand that it was okay to be emotional and vulnerable,” said Wiebe. “[It was] a generosity that she extended to me while she herself was grieving… She was always in my corner, advocating for me and challenging me to do more… One day I hope that I can inspire those around me like Ms. Schinkel inspires the people around her every single day.”

Wiebe added that both teachers demonstrated to her the importance of treating people with respect and kindness rather than becoming self-absorbed with her own goals.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Keating after accepting her daughter’s award. “I’m not entirely surprised. She was a great teacher and we were very aware of that. She did good.”

Keating added that Wiebe isn’t the first student to make them aware of Ms. Dueck’s incredible effect on their lives. As for dealing with the loss, Keating says it never gets easier, just different.

“It was an absolute privilege to be able to work with kids like Lauren and [teachers] like Dana Dueck,” said Burtnack-Schinkel. “Lauren definitely exemplifies what we try to instill in every student that we work with. But she also reminds us to continue to reach out. Are we getting to all the kids that we need to get regardless of their background or their situation?”

Burtnack-Schinkel said she felt enormous pride when she heard she had been invited to celebrate in the accomplishments of former students and to celebrate the legacy of a teacher like Dueck.

“Lauren really is an exceptional young lady… and she just makes it easy to love on kids and to help guide them to where they want to go in life.”

Burtnack-Schinkel served as vice-principal of NCI for five years.

Dueck and Burtnack-Schinkel’s history together goes back to when Dueck began her teaching career at Steinbach Junior High under the guidance of Burtnack-Schinkel. Today, Burtnack-Schinkel serves as principal of Green Valley School in Grunthal.

After high school, Wiebe gained entrance to the University of British Columbia, studying Public Health and Political Science. After graduating with a degree, Wiebe has since been accepted to the Health Sciences University in Stockholm, Sweden. There, she’ll be studying Global Public Health and will be the youngest person to take the program. Out of 950 people who applied for the program, only 26 were accepted worldwide. Wiebe was one of those few.

She humbly suggests that she’s unsure as to why she was selected.

“I really wanted to study in public health in a country that’s doing it the best,” Wiebe says. “All the Scandinavian countries, specifically Sweden, have the best public health system… The school that I’m going to, it’s kind of their specialty. When I originally became interested in global health, there was this one Swedish physician, whose name is Hans Rosling, and he really inspired me. He started up the global health program at this university.”

The program will take her 24 months to complete. Wiebe’s dream job, she says, is to work for the World Health Organization, which might find her in an office in New York or Sweden. In the perfect scenario, though, Wiebe hopes to be assigned to field work in a variety of countries, designing public health interventions.

“In terms of what I’m really passionate about, it’s kind of more like emergency global crises and the role that culture plays within that,” Wiebe adds. “Canada just is not a hub for global health.”

As to why she chose to take the time out of her busy life to honour her past educators, Wiebe says that these influential women still feel very present in her everyday life. She recommends that other students also take the time to acknowledge the positive influence of their teachers.

“[Teaching is] a very interesting career because it’s one of the only professions, I would say, that don’t get a lot of accolades, and there’s not a whole lot of room for promotions or things like that, even though it’s such a critical career,” Wiebe says.

She adds that when teachers take the time to personally connect with their students, it doesn’t go unnoticed.