Zoe and Sashi Sanchez-Wickland were born in Canada, have a Mexican father and a Canadian mother, and live on Salt Spring Island. Every year, the two sisters go to Puerto Escondido, the place where their dad grew up, to live there for a few months and connect with...
Blog
Cultural Curiosity and Compassion
Today is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development; a day to celebrate different backgrounds. In the weeks that bookend this important day, The Circle Education is connecting the dots between similarities that blend us together in a shared humanity...
Move from Ukraine to Canada Gives Ivanna Different Perspectives and Outlook on Life
Ivanna Darmokhid was thirteen when she moved from Ukraine to Salt Spring Island. The teenage years can be a difficult time to leave your friends and family behind, but Ivanna was excited for this new adventure in her life. She’s grateful that her parents took the leap...
Welch Siblings See Multicultural Background as a Bonus
Keshua, Levi and Zyah Welch have a Grenadian dad and a Canadian mom with Dutch roots. They had a Canadian upbringing on Salt Spring Island, with the Grenadian humour of their dad and a touch of Dutch from their great-grandparents. Last year they had the chance to get...
What I Learned about Labels and Assumptions out of an Armoured Vehicle in downtown Calgary
The Circle Education works with children and youth to remove dividers that separate us and make us feel different from each other, when in fact we are inherently the same. Our executive director Janine Fernandes-Hayden learned an important lesson about...
Why I broke Up with My Phone and How it Changed my Life for the Better
Ask yourself this: Do you feel nervous if your phone is not in your hand or within sight? Do you find yourself wishing you were more creative or had more time in the day to spend on your passions or connecting with friends and...
‘The Work The Circle Education Is Doing Is Unique and vital’
As a parent of a participant in The Circle’s programs, and as a local educator, Shelly Johnson has a unique perspective on social-emotional education. Our Education Outreach Program Coordinator Adele Mark, sat down with Shelly to hear her take on the benefits of...
Learn How to Work Better with Youth
The Circle Salt Spring Education Society is offering a new ‘Methods and Tools for Deeper Connections with youth’ course at the end of January 2022. This offering is ideal for individuals who work with youth in a variety of contexts, whether it be formal educational...
‘Social-Emotional Learning Encourages Kids to Care about Each Other’
Adele Mark, Education Outreach Program Coordinator, at The Circle interviewed Gail Bryn-Jones, a dedicated advocate of social-emotional education and teacher of over 30 years on Salt Spring Island. Gail has a master’s degree in Education and has served as a board...
From L.A. to a Rural Island: Social-Emotional Learning insights
When Adele Mark was fifteen, she moved with her parents from Los Angeles, a city of 13 million people where she had lived all of her life, to Salt Spring Island, Canada. A place she thought of at the time as a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with more...
‘Social-Emotional Learning Is about Empowering Youth with Tools to Grow more Confident’
Kate Nash has been our Programs and Development Coordinator and the facilitator of the Pass It On and Respect programs for more than ten years. Adele Mark, our Marketing and Communications assistant at The Circle interviewed Kate to hear her reflections on her work...
“I Can Be my True Self Here”
Do you want to know what our Pass it On Boys program is all about? Participants of last year’s program tell in this video about what Pass it On Boys did for them. “I am able to express myself here, where I can’t always at school or at home,” says Liam Walsh. “I can be...