BONNYVILLE – A Bonnyville school principal is being recognized for the work she does for the community and her school.
Notre Dame Elementary School principal Kim Kaiser is Lakeland Catholic School Division’s (LCSD) 2021 nominee for the Excellence in Catholic Education Award,
The honour is handed out through the Council of Catholic School Superintendents of Alberta (CCSSA) to recognize Catholic educators who do an exemplary job of preparing youth to grow into outstanding Catholic citizens.
“Our division nominated Kim for the Excellence in Catholic Education Award because through her extensive service at St. Louis Parish and as a faith leader at Notre Dame Elementary School, she builds relationships with the community and exemplifies Lakeland Catholic’s vision with Christ as her model and children as her focus,” said LCSD deputy superintendent Pamela Guilbault in a statement.
When Kaiser moved to Bonnyville from Brooks in 2014 to take over as principal at the local elementary school, she never could have believed she would have her name put forward for the work she does in and out of the facility.
“I have been vice-principal at my previous district, then came here and jumped right in,” she recalled. “I was (Grade) 7 to 12 at the school I came from and I came down to elementary and loved it. It’s been amazing.”
One aspect of being in an elementary school she loves is the excitement she sees from students every day.
“They love being at school and they always want to give you hugs. An example is one of our little guys, who's in Grade 2, came down the hallway and he was like ‘good morning, Mrs. Kaiser’ and I said good morning to him and he went ‘you’re just beautiful today.’ I was like ‘aweh’ and told him ‘thank you for filling my bucket. You’re pretty handsome today, too.’”
One of the lessons Kaiser hopes to instill in the students she teaches and interacts with is "to approach everything with a kind heart."
“I think the biggest things are to be kind, true to yourself, and to be helpful to others,” she continued. “To be true to yourself, who you are, to help others, and to just always think of (others) because you never know what’s going on in a person’s world.”
The single mom of two daughters and two cats enjoys living in Bonnyville and being involved with the community. The only complaint she has is she wishes there were more shopping malls to go to.
Kaiser regularly attends mass at the St. Louis Parish in town and has taken an active role in the parish by becoming a member of the parish council, leading the family ministries, organizing the Christmas pageant for the last seven years, leading the youth ministry at the church, she often volunteers to be a Eucharistic minister in her parish, and teaches sacramental prep classes.
When she heard she had been put forward as LCSD’s nominee for the award this year, she was completely surprised.
“There were a few of us that came up together whose names came forward. I was very much honoured to be chosen for the year, for sure.”
LCSD stated that Kaiser is "especially deserving of recognition for the Excellence in Catholic Education Award due to her outstanding commitment to her faith, parish, community, and the division."
