Small moves can make a big difference in people’s lives.
Jeff Mason left a position at the area’s largest school five years ago to become the principal at Foothills School Division’s smallest school and he and his staff are making a big difference in the lives of their students.
“I felt I was in a really good spot to provide that extra piece for kids in crisis,” said Mason, who has been the principal at Cameron Crossing School in Okotoks for the past five years. "I grew up in school in north Winnipeg and a teacher I had, Mr. D., saw a light in what I had to offer.
“I wanted to give back for what he did for me and I thought this would be a great place to provide that for kids.”
Mason is the division’s nominee for the 2020-2021 Council for School Leadership Distinguished Leadership Award.
He moved five years ago from being a vice-principal at the 1,100-plus student Foothills Composite High School to Cameron Crossing, with an enrolment of 16 students in 2020-21.
Cameron Crossing is an alternative school for students who have struggled in the traditional school system.
“It was an important move for me,” Mason said. “It helped to bring closure to what I always wanted out of school, to help those kids who need the help the most. It was an easy move that way.
“It’s about providing these kids that opportunity to reconnect to see they have greatness in them. It’s about finding that greatness and letting it shine again… I think it (Cameron Crossing) is one of the most powerful buildings in all of Foothills.”
Mason said the leadership nominee is recognition of what the Cameron Crossing team is doing.
“It’s a reinforcement of knowing that the work I am doing not only counts for kids but it is also important to other colleagues in the division,” Mason said. “Throughout my career it’s been about kids first and what kids need to be successful - whether that means opening Highwood High School (in 1996), the work we did at Heritage Heights and the Comp.
“It’s about seeing where kids are and meeting them and continuing to support them.
He grew up in north Winnipeg, which has a reputation of being rough, but it was family and sports that kept him on the straight and narrow. That’s one of the reasons he became an educator.
“Sports kept me out of trouble growing up in Winnipeg,” Mason said. “I wanted to make sure I was in a position to provide other kids a positive outlet and I saw an opportunity to tie that in with education through phys ed.”
Mason started his teaching career in 1992 at Blackie School and has been at Oilfields, Highwood, Heritage Heights, the Comp and now Cameron Crossing.
He said he is proud to see students who may not have graduated in the traditional system earn their diploma thanks to the Cameron Crossing team and program.
He knows how important education is in one’s life.
“Sports was important to me but in my Grade 12 year, my grandpa sat me down,” Mason said. “He gave me an old pen set that his grandfather from England gave him.
“He told me the only way to have success was to be educated.
“That is what I have lived by and I hope to pass on to the kids I work with… The pen set is framed in my basement.”
