Juris Graney/Staff writer
Tucked away in the closet of Geneva Woodward’s spare room is a series of photo albums but, unlike most people, hers aren’t all filled with family snapshots.
Flicking open the front cover reveals a series of tiny images, headshots, school photos to be exact. They are all the students she has taught over almost 30 years.
“I don’t have all the photos in here yet,” she says carefully turning one of the pages to reveal another spreadsheet of smiling children, “but I will, I’ll get there.”
A turn of the page exposes brightly coloured kindergarten drawings from her students and a card, seemingly spring loaded, leaps open from the facing page, the following words surrounded by roses.
Mrs. Woodward,
Thank you means that someone shared, someone showed how much they cared;
It means that someone had a part in brining joy to another’s heart
Love Jasmine Genge,
Grade 6, June 2002.
“There are some students I won’t forget,” she says fondly, closing the album.
It’s easy to argue that those same students won’t forget the role she played in their lives and that of the community.
“In my 30 years I have taught all grades from kindergarten right through to senior high school and I can say that the 10 years working at Straits Elementary have been my best years,” she says.
But on June 25, Straits Elementary was no more.
After 39 years the educational facility closed its doors, the school bell rang for the very last time as the 133 kindergarten to grade six students headed for summer break.
When they return from the break for the new school year in September they will be arriving at Canon Richards Memorial Academy at Flowers Cove, boosting its student population to 241.
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