‘Steel sharpens steel’

South Osborne

West End

St. Vital

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This article was published 01/05/2024 (655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When you love what you do, it’s easy to get up each morning.

Just ask Saul Correia.

After 23 years of teaching, Correia’s commitment to education has been recognized by the Province of Manitoba. Recently, Correia — a woodworking teacher at Collège Churchill High School — was among the recipients of this year’s provincial teaching excellence awards.

“I really appreciate the acknowledgement,” Correia said. “But for me, I love what I do. This is such an awesome job.”

A Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute alumnus, Correia credits his own high school woodworking teacher, Bernie Taronno, with inspiring him to pursue industrial arts as a career.

“(He) was awesome,” Correia said. “He was a huge influence on me. He said, ‘You know, you like doing this. You like working with people. Why don’t you try going into industrial arts teachers’ ed.? The pay is good, the work is rewarding. Good holidays.’ So I tried it out.”

At 19, Correia did his first stint as a student teacher at Sisler High School.

“It was a trip,” he said. “It was awesome. I loved it right away.”

Correia, now a 45-year-old St. Vital resident, still finds the job rewarding, especially seeing students achieve success.

“It’s awesome seeing a kid visualize something, and then in the end have that physical product in front of them,” he said. “Like, ‘Wow, I made this!’”

According to a provincial press release announcing the award, Correia’s Grade 7 to 12 woodworking program is a “dynamic and inclusive learning environment where all students, including those with exceptional needs, can thrive. By applying Universal Design for Learning principles, he intertwines the development of practical skills and theoretical knowledge of woodworking with the learning of complex mathematical concepts, resulting in more competent mathematicians and woodworkers.”

“It’s a life skill, whether you go into the trades or not,” Correia said.

A couple of years ago, students built 15 dog houses, which were then shipped to northern communities, as a means of instilling values of community engagement and empathy among the students. This year, they built homes for cats in shelters.

“Ideally, if we can incorporate some cross-curricular thing here, that’s a goal,” Correia said, adding that sustainability is also a key component to the work he does with students. “Whenever we have an opportunity, we try to use reclaimed material, material that would normally be thrown out. Those cat houses, those were about 90 per cent reclaimed material, from old sheds, old two-by-fours. For the insulation, we used a little spray foam, to seal things up, but the rest was sawdust.”

Correia is also quick to credit his colleagues for contributing to a positive learning environment at Churchill.

“Steel sharpens steel, and I work with some amazing people,” he said. “The little things they do, makes me think, ‘Hey, that’s cool, how can I incorporate that into my area?’ We do some great stuff here in the building. It’s everybody: the EAs, the custodians who keep this place going, the administration, which is always trying to bring in new things. It’s a great building and I’m fortunate to work with great people. The award is more of a reflection on this great building than anything else.”