Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And as per usual, we're going to start this episode off on the same note. We start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you spend it with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro
Speaker 0 00:00:31 And we are back. Okay. As you can tell, I'm not on the set of the Mac city morning show. Uh, we were invited to holy Trinity high school and junior high. So thank you very much. Uh, holy Trinity, for having us, as you guys also know, I do not introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than I, so on that note, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 2 00:00:50 Hi, my name is Megan and I'm the photography graphic design teacher here at holy Trinity. I'm originally from Newfoundland as is most of Fort McMurray. Um, uh, yeah, I moved here four years ago and been here since, oh, well,
Speaker 0 00:01:07 Part of Newfoundland,
Speaker 2 00:01:08 Uh, just a really, really small fishing community on the Bonavista bay called play golf. Um, I went to a K to 12 school that had 120 students wow. To come to a school like this that has so many cool programs. Like we have mind blowing in my school year option was phys ed or religion. That was it.
Speaker 0 00:01:32 So how did you get into photography?
Speaker 2 00:01:34 Um, well, I have a bachelor degree in visual arts, um, because it's something that I'm really good at. So I was like, why not explore it? Um, and then I fell in love with art history. So then I was like, okay, what kind of job? Because as a kid, I wanted to be Indiana Jones. Um, and I was like, I've realized how hard it was to become an instructor at a university. So it was like teacher. It is, um, unfortunately I do not go on really cool adventures like him yet.
Speaker 0 00:02:05 Yes. That is a listen when COVID opens up. You got
Speaker 2 00:02:09 So, yeah, so I fell in love with art history and then I decided to be a teacher and here I am. That's cool. The dream job,
Speaker 0 00:02:18 Especially in like a dream facility. So small town, Newfoundland, where did you go to school to study?
Speaker 2 00:02:25 Uh, in Cornerbrook in Newfoundland. Beautiful. Yeah. So part of Memorial university, you can only do your art degree in, on the Greenville campus in Cornerbrook, which was so cool because I'm also an identical twin. So I've always lived together with my family and my sister. And that was my first chance to like, yeah, go be myself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was really fun. So I got to explore art and history and who I was and things like that. And then I became the independent person. My parents wish I wasn't. Cause now I'm here on the other side of the country. You're still back home. Uh, no, she actually moved up to Edmonton, um, because we both lived in Lac LA Biche prior to teaching here. So she was like, I'm gonna just follow you, um, to see what the world had for her. And now, now she's in Edmonton and she, uh, she is an occupational therapist assistant, um, in the Edmonton Catholic school division. Who's older. She is by like 20 minutes. And I have still not gotten over that because I'm very competitive. She
Speaker 0 00:03:34 Followed you. So you're winning. Well,
Speaker 2 00:03:36 There you go. That's a good point.
Speaker 0 00:03:38 I'm saying. Okay. So I love going to museums, um, and to look at art stuff, like as a kid, my mom always, and I hated it as a kid. I did, but she always took me to plays. And every time we were in like a city, she would take me to a museum and as an adult, I really have an appreciation for that. So I try to go to see cool stuff when I'm in a cool place. Uh, what's the, what's your favorite museum that you've ever been to, or like coolest place for our history? Cause I'm going to drop a gem that I wouldn't call a natural museum per se. But what is your favorite?
Speaker 2 00:04:11 So unfortunately I haven't gotten to do the world traveling yet. I would really, my dream place would be to go to like Arland and to see, uh, the book of Kells, which is something that I studied a lot in art history class in my university degree. Um, so that's on my to see list. Um, as far as cool places like I've been, I've been, it's going to sound really lame, but like, I appreciate the little things. So like going to like drum Heller and seeing the dinosaur museum and seeing the actual history, not so much art history, but just like to picture how everything existed back then and why not? I thought that was really cool. And it was cool. You don't get stuff like that, Newfoundland?
Speaker 0 00:04:57 No, definitely not. But I got this book of Kells. What's that all about? My in-laws are from Ireland. Oh, I've been before, but I don't know what this book is about.
Speaker 2 00:05:07 So it's basically an illustrated Bible. Um, and it was passed down through generations and generations from like, uh, the two hundreds century, something like very, very, very long time ago. Um, and it got, they would travel with it to spread the capitalists. Right. So, um, it got to the point where they had to put it in an air sealed container in the museum because they would kiss it so much that the pages would lose the ink and stuff like that. So now it's just sitting in a museum in Dublin and I will see it one day.
Speaker 0 00:05:45 Awesome. I'm going to go see it. I'm planning. COVID willing to go there this summer. I'm going to go check that out. That sounds cool. Right?
Speaker 2 00:05:55 Okay. Lots of cool things.
Speaker 0 00:05:58 I like your example though, about the dinosaur museum I've been there. That one's awesome. My favorite place that I've ever been so far is the Vatican. Oh, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 00:06:09 That's the other thing too. We learned so much about the Intel, uh, Italian Renaissance that like to see the cathedrals and stuff. Like basically if I could see anything I seen in a textbook, I would like nerd out and just like
Speaker 0 00:06:22 Going to Italy, like the Vatican was unbelievable, but like even going to like anywhere in Italy, you're just seeing sculptures and paintings. And uh,
Speaker 2 00:06:31 I forget
Speaker 0 00:06:33 Even like I stayed in an Airbnb when I was over there and they're like, oh, look up at the ceiling. That was, Michelangelo's like apprentice who painted that back and whatever. And you're just like, this is the best $150 I've ever spent. It's like, it's crazy over there followed by second place. I was able to go to, I don't know the name of the museum, but the main museum in Chicago was unbelievable. Unbelievable. So yeah, once school was done ticket, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 00:06:59 Sweet. Oh yeah. Newfoundland's beautiful. Beautiful place if you haven't been there.
Speaker 0 00:07:03 Oh, Brooke is in my opinion. And I've been to all of the provinces, none of the territories, unfortunately, but all the provinces in Canada hands down Cornerbrook is the most beautiful place in Canada during the fall. Like it's
Speaker 2 00:07:17 Oh my goodness. Yes. For toddlers. And when the leaves start to fall, so, so nice. And yeah, I was really fortunate to spend four years there. Yeah. And, uh, and it's such a small community, but it's so big at the same time. So it allows you to like safely figure out who you want to be and whatnot. That's right. That's right. And yeah. So I'm planning on doing a road trip this summer through the Atlantic provinces and Cornerbrook was like, yeah, you want to go back? And they've got a really good sushi place, just say, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:07:46 Yeah. And the hotel, Glen mill in big shout out to the Glen mill. And I love that. Like, it's a historical building as well. I love going to stay in eating at that restaurant upstairs in the Glen mill. It's like so classy.
Speaker 2 00:07:59 Yeah. I was going to say, I couldn't, didn't get either very much of my student budget, but yeah,
Speaker 0 00:08:04 No, I guess not. No, definitely not. So you moved out here Fort Mac for years now. How did this whole Trinity journey for you start? How did you get this position?
Speaker 2 00:08:16 Um, so I've been in Alberta for almost seven years. Okay. So when I first moved here, I was a phys ed teacher up in a Mennonite community, past grand Prairie. Oh wow. Um, me and my friend moved up and she, she stuck around and she's still there. She got married and had a beautiful baby. And so she's still up there to midnight? No, no, no. To, to a gentleman who lives in the nearby town. Um, but, uh, and so it wasn't, it was really good school and great opportunity. Yeah. But it just, wasn't where I wanted to be forever. Right. And so then I moved home and panicked about what to do. Um, and then I went to Lac LA Biche. My sister found a posting and it was like the middle of August. And they were like, we'll take you. So I taught grade seven, social studies and language arts for three years.
Speaker 2 00:09:06 And no joke, even though like grade seven is an interesting time in a kid's life. I absolutely loved it. Cause my, my kiddos were so good to the point that like we visited last weekend with a volleyball tournament and they were still running up being like masking and like they grow and then it's weird and they're taller than you now. But, uh, so that was really good. But unfortunately my, my partner and I, he couldn't get a teaching job there. Um, cause there wasn't just, there's not a lot of teaching jobs. That's right. Um, so then we looked at places that we could both get teaching jobs and where he was it. And then, yeah. So I got here on a, um, mat leave. So the visit, the photography teacher was gone and she had a baby and they were like, please come in. And they were like, please take this job.
Speaker 2 00:10:00 And I was like, photography job. Yes. I should be begging you to give me this job. Um, so it was a very smooth transition fortunately. And then yeah, it felt like my first year here, I got involved in volleyball and I got involved. I did an animate club because I'm a nerdy athletic person. So it's like, I tried to do as much as I could to make this place, my home. And at the end of the year I felt like I was here for like a decade. Yeah. All right. So nice to hear. And then fortunately they kept me on and they haven't gotten rid of me yet.
Speaker 0 00:10:36 So if I was a kid contemplating coming and, uh, getting involved in your program, like what would I need to know up upfront?
Speaker 2 00:10:45 Oh, he would need to know nothing. Cause they teach you at all. Okay. Um, no, you just need to, to want to be there. And that's the biggest thing with my classes, my class, I run my classes similarly to how my instructors ran my university program. Um, a little bit of instruction and then it's playing and exploring and creating art. And sometimes we'll be doing one lesson and then all of a sudden the kid will have an idea for something. And then I'm like, okay, everybody, let's like try to do this. Right. Um, and then it's completely sidetracks to where we're supposed to go. But at the end of the day, they're creating. Right. And so I'm really fortunate to have a position that allows me to do that. Um, but yeah, it's all about playing and learning. As I like to trick the kids into learning. There you go.
Speaker 0 00:11:37 I'd have to assume that your class or your course is very popular, especially with this generation of like selfie kids. Like you, I would assume maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 00:11:47 No, no, no, no. For sure. Um, I do my, so right now I'm teaching a photography class, a graphic design class. And I just last year started teaching a film media arts class, um, as well as a social studies class. Cause I got to keep that in there. That's right. That's right. Um, but this year in particular, my, my photography students I'm like, so I always ask like what kind of history you've had? Like what have you done? Well, I take really good selfies and I'm like, all right, let's figure out how you take those really good selfies and let's apply them to a digital camera. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:12:27 Well it always blows my mind, these kids, when you see some of their pictures, like they're beautiful. And you're like, wow, you understand lights and angles. Like you understand what to do, but it's just, they figured that on their like they're self-taught and like some of the pictures you see on Instagram or like when you did that with your phone
Speaker 2 00:12:45 And that's the thing, I think five, 10 years from now, we'll be teaching it with phones. Cause like some of the phone cameras are real. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 0 00:12:56 Even like I have a Pete with it, I have a gimbal for some of my cameras to a stabilizer and I bought it. I want to say like three, four years ago it cost me an arm and a leg. And honestly like with my new iPhone and I'm just running around like, do I really need to use that Gilbert? Like the technology has just advanced so far. It's it's unbelievable. It's really unbelievable. Yeah. So with your kids, um, obviously like they're taking photos, they're making graphic design, which by the way, I own a marketing company. If you wanna hit me up with some resumes down the line for some graphic designers, please, um, how can the community support them? Do you guys put on shows? Are there, uh, exhibits that they can come check out? Like how does that all
Speaker 2 00:13:40 Yeah. So this year we're doing something really cool and exciting. We're doing the winter art festival, which is one of the first times that we can display art. Right. Right. Especially after COVID because usually we do like a year-end show for the family and friends, just the visual arts program. But the cool thing about the winter art festival is that it's all of the arts, right? So you'll get the kids, parents who have dancers coming in and they'll get to see some of the things that photography students are doing and whatnot because unfortunately with the visual arts, like the dance programs and the drama and the bands, like they all have these productions that people get to come see. So fortunately now with this new festival that's coming up, it gives the visual arts and opportunity to just be exposed as well and hoping to get some more students involved and somebody to walk by and be like, I really liked that. How did they take this? Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:14:43 Well, yeah. That's cool. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 00:14:46 So, yeah. And, and yeah, so that's the big thing that's coming up for sure. That we're really excited about. Um, my students also do, um, advertisements for the school itself. So, uh, for the right now, some of my graphic design students are working on a poster for our dance production in November. So they get to treat it like a client-based thing. They go and they talk to the instructor and they say, what do you want in this poster? And then they all make up their own ideas and then they bring the ideas forward and then she selects from them and things like that. And then we print them and then, yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So it's all about trying to give them, um, career like operative.
Speaker 0 00:15:30 Yeah. Well, for graphic designers, I'm telling you like say they're hard to come by a good graphic designer is an understatement. And the amount of money that you charge out for that work is it's mind blowing. Like I always thought it was expensive, but like over the last few years, especially because of COVID, the digital medium period has become more sought after. So you've seen the cost of your hourly wage for those individuals dramatically increase. So yeah. If you can, if you can make a poster, edit a video, write a script, like you, you become employable to say, to say the least. Yeah, very cool. That's a cool program that you got there.
Speaker 2 00:16:11 I'm really proud of it. And it's got, it's like in its developmental stages and there's so much more I want to do, but I have to like ease into it to not give shock to anybody.
Speaker 0 00:16:21 So. Cool. Well, listen, I see you on the show, but before I cut you loose, uh, everybody gets a shameless shout out or plug. So the lights are on you. The camera's on you have fun.
Speaker 2 00:16:32 I'm going to be super cliched. Hi mom.
Speaker 0 00:16:35 Oh my God. We love when people give moms shout outs, that's the best shout out ever. Okay. Well listen, thank you very much for doing this. I really do appreciate it. If you ever want to come on the show again, please feel free to swing by the set. We'd love to chat with you more. Obviously you're more interested in just 20 minutes. So for everybody at home, thank you very much for tuning into another episode of the Mac city morning show. I really do appreciate it. Cause I know you could be doing a lot of other things with your time. I hope you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace
Speaker 3 00:17:03 And deadly or Wade. And another morning show later, boss,
Speaker 1 00:17:11 You
Speaker 4 00:17:20 Talk about quenching your ugly thirsty.
