After 20 years at Deep Cove Elementary and 31 years with the Saanich School District french immersion teacher Liz Lebel is retiring.
“I love this community and I’ve loved watching it grow,” said Lebel of Deep Cove.
“I’m going to miss the kids, the spontaneity of teaching and the humour. Teaching to me is a lot like being on stage and I’ll miss having that every day,” she said.
She also noted that she’ll miss things like getting to teach different age children from the same family.
“There’s always those families with four or five children and sometimes you get teach all of them. That’s something really special, seeing them all grow up. I’ll miss that.”
Prior to teaching in North Saanich, Lebel taught at another local school, Keating Elementary.
In her time at Deep Cove, Lebel was the catalyst behind many clubs and organizations including the swim club and teaching knitting to students.
She also played a large part in the school’s Help Lesotho project which supports a school in Africa.
“The Help Lesotho project has been a really big deal for me over the last few years and it’s really made a lot of progress.
“It’s something the school can be really proud of,” she said.
In her retirement Lebel is looking forward to pursuing her interests in art as well as her volunteerism with various organizations including the ANAVETS in Sidney.
The school will host a retirement tea in honour of Lebel on Thursday, June 20 at 3:30 p.m.
Any past or current students, parents and colleagues are welcome to attend, she said.