Alexandra Shapka handed 2021-22 Edwin Parr Award

While being a young teacher can be a daunting task, one local rookie excelled in her field and was recognized provincially.

Alexandra Shapka was officially given the 2022 Alberta School Board Association’s (ASBA) Edwin Parr Award winner for Zone 2/3 on Nov. 20. 

The St. Dominic Elementary Kindergarten teacher was given the nod at the end of the last school year after being nominated by Lakeland Catholic Schools.

“It was an honor and just like crazy to think, wow, I’m good enough,” Shapka told Lakeland Connect.

Shapka was running against 20 other teachers in the zone area. Depending on the criteria, each educator had to go through an interview process, which is the ASBA determines the winners.

“With that process, you had 11 questions, two minutes exactly to answer these questions, and they would hold up a piece of paper to really get your nerve on, like now you have a minute-thirty, that’s how much time. Then you didn’t know any of your questions in advance that would count towards your interview process,” she said.

Shapka is from Bonnyville and attended French Immersion school before now teaching it. She wanted to come back to Lakeland Catholic after she graduated the University of Alberta’s Bachelors of Elementary Education with Distinction.

“I wanted to come back to my community and give back to them in the way they give back to me. It’s such a great school district and community. And I really just wanted to come here and grow into myself more and help grow into the community as well.

And, of course, she credits her students on her success.

“They were so great to me. I love them so much. I’m so thankful that they were so good and that they’re doing amazing in Grade 1, and I missed them a lot, but I’m so happy to see how good they’re flourishing and how well they’re doing in the classroom,” said Shapka.

Shapka thanked LCSD for the nomination, and even shared a message to other first-year teachers.

“Don’t be afraid because they don’t know if you don’t know what you’re doing. So you just kind of got to fake it till you make it, because if something’s not working out, they are very versatile. They’re happy to pivot with you. So if you need to, scratch this and move on, they are happy to follow along because they have no clue what you’re doing either. They’re happy to learn.”