School Days with Becky, Jami and Kathryn

Since it's "Back to School" month at CLC, we're going to be talking about our favorite school moments and other thoughts on the topic. This week, Becky, Jami and Kathryn are here to take us down the halls of their schools.

Becky:

Favorite subject:
Art was my favourite subject, I just wasn’t great at it! I put more effort into my Art GCSE than most other subjects and only came away with a D L, my worst result!

Best year of school and why:
Probably the final year of primary school, happy memories. We had a fantastic teacher that year and I was so proud to be made the female house captain of the ‘York’ team. I remember the York team hadn’t done great in terms of house points/sports days success up until then but we did much better that year!

Fictional school you'd love to attend:
Hogwarts! How amazing would that be!

Picture by David Hockney

Interesting fact about secondary school:
David Hockney lives in my home town of Bridlington and I spotted my old secondary school in some of his work on display at a gallery recently, I felt very proud because I love his work!

Did you take a foreign language class? If so, what? Do you still speak that language?
I studied German and French up to A-Level standard but then abandoned my linguistic streak in favour of history/social sciences at University. I was the only German A-Level student at my school so I benefitted from having a teacher to myself, I have very fond memories of being forced to listen to Morrisey, being given cups of coffee and translating children’s books (at 17/18 I started going out and would quite often be hungover on a Friday in this class – amazingly I got a good result, thanks to a great and understanding teacher!). I’m not confident in speaking these languages anymore other than the basics but I still understand bits when I read text or hear people talking.

Jami:

Favorite subject: 
English; it was the only thing I was naturally good at!

Best year of school and why: 
Senior Year... I was finally done with math and science and filled up on classes that really interested me. That was also the only year I had a 3.5

Jami (left) with her best friend, Lauren

Extracurricular activities: 
Theater! I loved doing plays...

Favorite TV show about school: 
When I was in high school, Square Pegs was very popular, so that would have been the answer then. But recently I watched Freaks and Geeks through Netflix, and I think that's the best show about high school ever.

Favorite movie about school: 
Mean Girls! I have the DVD and watch it every time it's on TV. My son and I often quote the lines to each other. One of these days, "fetch" will happen!


Kathryn:

Kathryn is on the left

Favourite subject: 
Without a doubt English and History. I took every English and History class offered in high school, and two history classes in university. Oddly enough though, after taking a sociology class in my last year of high school, I decided that I wanted to major in Psychology and Sociology in university (I wanted to be the female Dr. Phil... and then I had to take two years of Stats... ugh).

Favourite teacher, and why: 
My 7th grade teacher Mr. Russell. That year was probably one of the most difficult for me for many reasons, and although I've always been at the top of my class, I likely would have failed if Mr. Russell hadn't taken over our class that year. He was truly an angel sent into my life. He encouraged my writing and I remember he read part of my short story (which I eventually turned into a short novel) to the class. His words "Don't forget me when you're a world famous author" still stay with me. I may not be an author, but I never forget you Mr. Russell.

Did you ever go to detention? 
Only once... in grade six all the girls in the class got detention because of some nonsense that was going on (regardless of how involved we were). I don't remember what had happened, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't directly involved. I'm a good girl!

Who was your biggest crush? 
I had two: One was a hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs who I actually met in person when I was 16 (*swoon*). The other was a boy named Scott and I fell for him hard. We never got together nor were we super good friends (a la Dawson & Joey) but we did dance together for one song at prom ("It's A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong).

Proudest achievement during my academic career:
It's a tie: Getting my Honours BA in Psychology and Sociology and getting accepted without wait-list to the Social Work program which accepts fewer than 40 students (that degree is a work in progress).