Last evening in a virtual award ceremony, six former BCIT graduates were selected and recognized as meeting the criteria for the Successful Graduate Award. Due to the pandemic, the ceremony combined the award winners for 2020 and 2021.  The program was organized by Michele Hill with input from BCIT building leadership at BCIT, namely, Joseph Venuto, Michael Parker and Jesse Pappler. As part of my introductory remarks, I noted that these awardees personify the mission, vision and future of BCIT and provide the inspiration, hope and motivation to our current students to build upon the skills learned and to create new pathways while always remembering to pay it forward. The winners represented not only the high schools but also our Adult Education programs.  Assistant Superintendents Drs. Lisa English and Ashanti Holley made the award presentations. Please see the Award Ceremony Slide Presentation and information on each of our honorees.

Dr. Nagy recognized the administrators, educational and support staff and the nurses who have made significant contributions over the past year and who are recognized nationally during the Month of May.

The following message was shared with the staff. Please join me in thanking our administrators, teachers and staff and nurses for their dedication to our students.

Dear Staff, 

The month of May kicked off with Principals' Appreciation Day over this past weekend, and this week, we celebrate Teacher and Staff Appreciation Day and Week and then on May 12th, we recognize our nurses for Nurse Appreciation Day. Never more has this recognition been more important, timely and most warranted.  Looking back to March 2020, who knew the impact of this pandemic and how long it would last.  As leaders, educators and health professionals, you rolled up your sleeves as you always do and pivoted and demonstrated that you are not only resilient, talented and dedicated,  but you also are determined to do your very best for the students while adopting to be a lifelong learner while picking up new skill sets to migrate through the in-person, virtual and hybrid delivery of education.  Needless to say, we have been able to navigate this environment, have been able to thrive despite many challenges, help our students and embrace self-care and yes, we will come out on the other end once the effects of herd immunity take effect. We are sensing the shift already.

We have engaged in a process to look at September and much like we have done for the Restart and Recovery document, we will be working on one for September. Representatives from administration, staff and nurses will be involved in the conversations. We have learned much about what we can do and how to migrate through the pandemic, but as we look to the other side as we move closer to moving into the post-pandemic era, together we will embrace that future that does not yet exist and the innovation and creativity and new milestones that can be achieved by only leveraging each and every one of your talents. 

Congratulations on saying "yes" to being an administrator, educator or nurse in our District.  Our District, our students and your colleagues have been the beneficiaries of your influence and commitment to excellence and creation of better human beings for which you will be remembered for a lifetime by many.  Congratulations and thank you on behalf of the Board of Education. It is not just a day or a week, your vocation and avocation should be recognized each and every day.