My name is Ashley Wilkinson, and I am twenty-six years old from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. I recently moved to Regina with my sister Kassandra who is also in education classes but a high school English teacher. I am a very bubbly person who can be a bit loud at times. However, I live by the idea that we should always be kind to others as we don’t know what they are going through. 

 (Elementary school aged Ashley and Kassie with our family dog Scooter)

I had a rough time at school. For me, I had always struggled in both elementary and high school. This made me feel left behind a lot and struggling with classes. I don’t want my students to feel the way I did. I don’t want them to dread school because they become bogged down with not understanding. Thinking back at my time in school, I wish subjects were explained to me differently. I wish someone would have seen my younger self struggling as much as I did and allowed me to feel safe and able not to fall behind like I did.

I Went to catholic school my entire life. I stayed in the same school system from grade one to grade twelve. My elementary school had smaller class sizes as most classes had less than twenty students per class. Our elementary schools go from kindergarten to grade seven. There is no middle school as the high school goes from grade eight to grade twelve. Many of the kids I went to elementary school with also graduated with me in high school. As for high school, I knew all of my classmates when graduating as there was only one hundred and eleven of us. After high school, I went to Lakeland College for two years, taking arts and science classes. I was accepted into the University of Saskatchewan in 2015 and went to school there off and on for a few years. Last year I was admitted to the University of Regina and did online classes from home.

I grew up in a more rural area of Saskatchewan, meaning it was much less diverse than a bigger city like Regina. My classmates were either white or aboriginal. The first time I ever met someone who had immigrated to Canada was a girl who came from the Philippians when I was in grade eight. That being said, I ended up graduating high school in 2013 with one hundred and eleven people, five of them being from the Philippines and one from Mexico. At the time my school did not have a program to help students who immigrated to Canada learn the language and be able to get to the same level as their peers. I feel for these students who never felt included  or felt like they were to different to fit in and feel accommodated.

My favourite teacher in grade school has to be my grade five teacher Mrs Gagnon. She was always so kind and friendly. I remember everyone’s parents requested her to be their child’s teacher. She is the type of teacher I want to be. She always made sure none of her students was left behind when learning. If you didn’t understand how a concept worked, she always made sure to explain it differently. When you would have your agendas signed by her, she would ask you a multiplication question that she knew you always struggled with. She made a point to learn about her students and saw their weaknesses in the classroom as something she could build up. My favourite high school teacher was Ms Cadrin. She was my homeroom teacher for my entire time in high school. I have so many fond memories in her classroom. She was someone I could trust with anything. I’m still close with her, and she was one of the first people to believe in me to be a teacher. When I become a teacher, I know that I can contact her and ask her anything without judgement.

I don’t have necessarily a moment that I knew I wanted to be an educator. I had always done different things with children finding it natural to be with them. Wanting to be a teacher always felt like my calling. I guess the moment I knew that I had made the right choice to become a teacher would be when I was a teacher’s assistant. I always struggled with math from elementary to high school and was put in a class to help any students who needed some extra help. One student did not understand the concept, and for once, I knew how to solve the math problem. I remember explaining it to him in a different way than the teacher had. I was able to explain it in a way he could understand because, in no time, he was doing practice questions. I could feel how proud he was of himself for being able to understand and be a part of that pride made my heart swell. After that, I knew I had to do everything in my power to become a teacher. I worked more as a teachers assistant for both the catholic and public school divisions in my town. In addition, I ran after school care at an elementary school for two years.

 (My sister and I being accepted to the U of S)

The road to me becoming a teacher has been rough. I started to have serious mental health issues in 2014, causing me to struggle with college. I continued to the University of Saskatchewan, where I ended up flunking out of school and being told I needed to take a year off. I did take a year off and then tried school again with them, this time online. After two years of that, I ended up flunking out again. I was devastated. I was sure my dreams of becoming a teacher were over. So I got my life in order and took some time to work on myself. I got a full-time job at a group home for people who have mental and or physical disabilities. I loved it but I knew it was not meant to by my forever job. Being there gave me my fight back to wanting to reach my dreams. I found out about the program at the University of Regina that is called the art transition program. This was my redemption. Last year, I worked my booty off to prove to the university and myself that I deserved to be in education and that this was my time to shine. I am proud to say I did wonderful last year. I am now finally living my dream of becoming a teacher. My therapist said something that has stuck with me, and I am finally on my right path. I do not take this opportunity for granted. I am beyond thankful that the university was willing to give me a chance. I owe everything to the school for helping me believe in myself again.

(My baby Ollie and myself doing online school at home last year.)