Last day of school: students in St-Laurent say goodbye as their favourite teachers enter retirement
It's the final day of classes at Gardenview Elementary School in St-Laurent, and beloved teacher Paula Cohen's last day at work before retirement.
It's the final day of classes at Gardenview Elementary School in St-Laurent. The gym is full of happy students yet this milestone is bittersweet because some cherished teachers are retiring.
After 35 years in education, Paula Cohen is calling it a day.
'It's a second home, so it's hard to say goodbye. But hopefully I will be back to sub occasionally,' the longtime teacher said Friday.
In her French class, almost all her Grade 4 students are sad to see her go, except Giuseppe Zezzie who says she gave too much homework. But Madame Cohen thinks his comment is funny and she's good at 'rolling with the punches.'
Students at Gardenview Elementary School in St-Laurent mark their last day of school on Friday, June 20, 2025. (Christine Long/CTV News)
Students marked their last day at school at Gardenview Elementary School in St-Laurent on Friday, June 20, 2025. (Christine Long/CTV News)
After all, she's been performing in front of a live audience for decades and thinks retirement might be the time to go professional.
'If there are any producers or directors watching, I would love to be in a comedy, a small part in a comedy. I would never say no,' she said jokingly.
Down the hall, in her kindergarten class, it was graduation day. The event is extra special for teacher Elaine Kindlein, who is also retiring.
'Miss Elaine is nice to me, respectful, and she helps me learn as big as my heart,' one student told CTV News.
Retirement means more kayaking for Kindlein, who also says she'll be back as a substitute teacher.
Kindlein says her plans are outdoorsy: 'I'm going to do kayaking and things to be really healthy and then I hope to come back and see all of these wonderful kids.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘She is full of life': B.C. dog shares adventures and compassion after losing both eyes
When Chris Strickland first met Stevie the dog at a BBQ fundraiser for an animal rescue group, he could see that she couldn't. ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — When Chris Strickland first met Stevie the dog at a BBQ fundraiser for an animal rescue group, he could see that she couldn't. 'The initial reaction is always, 'Oh. That's sad.'' Chris says he felt the same way that other people do when they first notice him walking Stevie. 'They always feel so bad.' Stevie had been dropped off at the rescue because her eyes weren't working. So, Chris and his fiancée Jenn decided to foster the puppy until she could find a forever home. 'She was super sweet. Very affectionate,' Chris says. 'Just wanted to be loved.' It turns out Stevie was suffering from a disease that made her blind since birth, caused pain ever since, and could only be remedied by removing both eyes. 'It was a long process obviously, to go through that,' Chris says. So, Chris and Jenn committed to care for Stevie during her months-long recovery from surgery, while the rescue group worked to re-home her. 'But we grew way too attached,' Chris laughs. The couple's other dogs had fallen in love with Stevie too, so they decided to adopt the blind puppy, and offer her a dynamic life. 'We wanted her to explore and discover,' Chris says. He and Jenn encouraged Stevie to be like any other dog. 'We didn't want to hold her back.' Not that they could have held her back if they'd tried. 'All of our other (dogs) were middle-aged,' Chris laughs. 'And all of a sudden we had a young puppy!' Stevie proved to be a can-do kind of canine, and the couple began sharing her adventures on social media, showing how the dog confidently figured out how to do all sorts of active things on her own, from charting her own path on hikes, to becoming a passionate paddle-boarder. 'She is full of life,' Chris smiles. And so full of compassion that Stevie also volunteers as a therapy dog for people working in hospitals and businesses. 'She cuddles them like she's cuddling me right now,' Chris says patting, the pup who's curled up on his lap. 'You kind of see the tension and the stress just melt away.' And after Chris inevitably shares Stevie's story with them, they're left unquestionably inspired. Just like he and Jenn were. '(Stevie) taught us not to have disability define you,' Chris says. 'That you can overcome adversity.' And that — even if you lose your sight — you can still gain the vision live your life to the fullest.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Summer festival season in Ottawa
Ottawa Watch Summer festival season is in full swing in the capital. CTV's Tyler Fleming has a look at some of the events taking place this weekend.
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Aysanabee is back with a new sound
Today, Aysanabee drops his sophomore album, Edge Of The Earth. The Indigenous singer-songwriter burst onto the scene in 2022 with Watin, an album that was inspired by his grandfather's stories and won him two Juno Awards. On Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with music journalist Emilie Hanskamp, Anishinaabe scholar Riley Yesno and Anishinaabe/Mohawk writer and producer Kim Wheeler about Aysanabee's new album and how it differs from his first one. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion about new albums from both Bambii and Haim, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Elamin: Kim, do you want to tell the story of the first record? Because I feel like Watin kind of came out of nowhere and then just took the music scene by storm a little bit. Kim: Yeah, absolutely. He made this incredible record where he sat down and he had conversations with his grandfather. And it was during COVID and he recorded those conversations. Then he used them to weave a story throughout his first album, Watin, which is named after his grandfather. And actually, Aysanabee is also named after his grandfather. He took his grandfather's name [instead of] his colonial name, which is Evan, but now he performs as Aysanabee. Yeah, it was such an incredible album. That was the album that got him shortlisted for Polaris. And when you have an album like that, every single album afterwards, you anticipate, right? You're like, "What's he gonna do next? What's he going to do next?" And then with this album, he's given us a new sound. Elamin: This idea of making a record that is entirely around his grandfather's story, his grandfather's experience in residential schools, that forms the narrative framework of that record. When you get to this new album, Emily, is there a conceptual framework to this record? Or is he like, "Man, let's talk about love?" Emily: If his first album was his grandfather's story, his second was more so a breakup album, which is about you, but it's largely about a relationship, maybe the other person who you were in that relationship. I think this album [is] most inward and about himself. You think of [the words] "edge of the earth," you kind of picture yourself at the edge of this cliff, your toes hanging over, you think of these leaps of faith that you take, and I think it's taking stock of the leaps he's taken, the losses that have been both for and against his will, the people he's lost. There's a song about losing his grandfather, there are songs about heartbreak and relationships falling apart, there are songs about love. So I really think it is actually his most personal in terms of how inward it is. I think conceptually that's where he's landing here. WATCH | "Home" Live at Orange Lounge: Elamin: Riley, when you listen to this record, what's the aspect that's most jumping out at you? Riley: I went and read the write-up that you did, Emily, in The Star, about him [Aysanabee], and he mentions in it to you that he took inspiration in his earliest years from Bob Marley and all of these things. I started to smile because when I lived on the rez, we had just cassette tapes all over the place. And a fun fact is that every Native I've ever met loves Johnny Cash, they love Bob Marley, they love that timbre of the voice. I can hear that in the way that he [Aysanabee] sings and you can hear it on this album. And so while it's not necessarily as explicitly "about Indigenous topics," like residential schools with his grandfather in the first one, to me it is so Native still in that connection to the music that Native people love. And I really feel that when I listen to it.
