It is a long way from Maple Ridge, BC, to Manor, SK.
But it was a trip that Manor School's new principal Ron Wardrope took with a light heart.
"It was a really wonderful opportunity to expand my knowledge," Wardrope said. "It is a great school, in a great community, and I was overjoyed when I was selected for the position."
Wardrope's former community of Maple Ridge is a suburb of Vancouver, so the move had brought him to a new lifestyle as well as a new location.
"I was a city boy my whole life, so the move to a rural community has been a really fun one," Wardrope said. "The smaller class sizes, and greater interaction with the community is pretty amazing."
Wardrope has been teaching for 17 years, most of which has been at a private school in Maple Ridge.
Working as the vice-principal at the school in his last year, the opportunity that the Manor position offered him to advance his career was one he couldn't pass up.
"We heard about the position through family in Forget," Wardrope said. "Shannon and Don Shatotko [of The Happy Nun] are related, and they were the ones who informed us that the administrator's position was open."
"We were looking for a change already, and the whole thing came up as a result of a conversation that took place in Kelowna, BC," Wardrope said. "I sent off an application and next thing I know, we're looking for a house in the area."
Wardrope brings considerable education with him to his new position, having a degree in religious studies besides his teaching certificate.
"I was thinking about pastoral work when I was first going to university," Wardrope explained. "I was very interested in looking at that as a pursuit in future life, and in truth, I didn't think about being an educator at all."
"It was when I was approaching graduation in religious studies that I started to question whether that was the calling for me or not," Wardrope said. "It was a little while later that the topic of teaching came up in a conversation, and I started to think about it more seriously."
"I basically made up my mind to go and get my teaching credentials, but even then I was a little unsure," Wardrope said. "But once I got into the classroom, well, I fell in love with teaching, and haven't had any regrets about my decision since."
When asked about plans for the future at Manor, Wardrope admits that his unfamiliarity with the school and community have held him in place for the moment.
"I think it will be fun to get to know the place a little better before I make any big plans," Wardrope said. "We have three new teachers here, and myself, so we have a lot of new blood in the school."
"I'm fortunate to have a very dedicated and knowledgeable staff of teachers who have been here before, and they have been great when it comes to helping out the new teachers and myself," Wardrope said. "We're all learning about things together, which makes it a lot less stressful."
Wardrope brings to the region with him his wife Jodi and their three children.
