Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/1/2012 (3281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
RCMP Consts. Ron Bumbry and Izza Mian make pitch to education students Dale Tanner, Gilli Braunstein.
PROSPECTIVE teachers might have a badge and a horse in their future.
The RCMP showed up Monday for the first time at Ed Expo, the job fair for imminent graduates from the University of Manitoba's faculty of education.
The Mounties are offering spots at the police academy in Regina and civilian jobs in the force, said Const. Ron Bumbry, a graduate of Kildonan East Collegiate.
"There's lots of opportunities for people with a background in education," Bumbry said. "We are asking for diverse life experiences."
Although Grade 12 is the Mounties' minimum education requirement, a post-secondary degree is a big advantage for applicants, he said.
An RCMP constable makes $49,000 to start, in the salary ballpark for rookie teachers.
After six months, constables get an $18,000 raise, but teachers don't.
"A general constable makes $80,000 after three years," Bumbry said. Teachers? On the current scale, that much coin is about 11 years off.
There are plenty of civilian jobs as instructors, communicators, working with youth or dealing with traumatic events, he said. "We've had individuals come work for victim services."
Bumbry worked with a Mountie in Portage la Prairie who had taught for 14 years. As for Bumbry, "I worked at Investors Group for 13 years -- I wasn't getting enough excitement."
Ed Expo lacked some familiar faces this year, such as recruiters from public school districts in other provinces, the United Kingdom, Mexico and the United States.
Quebec's northern Cree bands came for the first time, offering jobs in nine communities, all with kindergarten-to-Grade 12 schools, eight with roads, but up to 14 hours' drive from Montreal.
The bands were looking for 40 teachers -- Cree and French speakers desirable, but unilingual English speakers acceptable.
Under the James Bay Agreement, the nine schools receive federal and provincial funding and have Internet, science labs and gyms -- the basics many Manitoba federally-funded reserve schools lack.
Faculty of education student organizers said there are jobs open in Winnipeg schools, but there's a lot of competition for them, so this year they were emphasizing to graduates jobs are plentiful out in the country and elsewhere.
Kris Drohomereski, a Teulon Collegiate grad specializing in information technology, was impressed by the technology available on Opaskwayak Cree Nation at The Pas. "Their school is the cutting edge of technology."
River East Collegiate grad Kyla Michalski, a specialist in phys-ed and senior-high history, is prepared to drive beyond the Perimeter.
"There are rural schools needing teachers," she said. "The northern schools really took a liking to us this year."
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca