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Hilstrom reacts to being selected as one of Canada's Outstanding Principals

Amber Hilstrom hasn’t been at Sacred Heart School/École Sacré Coeur for a long time, but she has already had a big impact on everyone at the school.
Amber Hilstrom
Amber Hilstrom has been selected as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals. Photo submitted

Amber Hilstrom hasn’t been at Sacred Heart School/École Sacré Coeur for a long time, but she has already had a big impact on everyone at the school. 

Hilstrom, who is in her fourth year as principal, has been selected as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals, an initiative offered by the Learning Partnership. The announcement was made Tuesday morning.

Thirty principals from across the country were selected, and Hilstrom was the only one from Saskatchewan.

Hilstrom was nominated by Sacred Heart learning facilitator Christa Walton.

In an interview with Lifestyles, Hilstrom said she was selected for emphasizing 21st century learning, and for supporting student learning.

Sacred Heart has been able to acquire a few grants since she has been there, which allowed the school to build an outdoor learning environment. The school was also a finalist for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow national contest in 2016, which earned the school thousands of dollars in new technology.

“We’ve done a lot of work since I’ve been there with reading development and instructional practices in the classroom, and we’ve seen some very good growth with that as well,” said Hilstrom.

There has also been the development of a school-wide reading program that supports all learners; the creation of a well-being program for staff and students at the school; partnerships with community agencies to support student learning; the use of Dr. Michael Fullan’s Deep Learning program to lead teachers to improve student learning outcomes above provincial benchmarks; the growth of staff confidence on implementing science, technology, engineering and math programs; efforts to more deeply engage students in their learning; and introduction of technology advancements for students and staff such as Chromebooks, robots, Lego Mindstorms, a three-dimensional printer, virtual reality headsets and ozobots.

Hilstrom said she enjoys coming to the school and seeing the students every day.

“I couldn’t have achieved this without them,” said Hilstrom. “They make work enjoyable every day, and taking their learning further, and providing them with the skills that they need (is rewarding).”

She has also worked to support the teachers in their individual passions, and allow them to grow and develop with professional development opportunities.

“And in doing that, it supports the students in the classrooms, because the teachers are then very passionate about what they’re doing,” said Hilstrom.

Walton said she decided to nominate Hilstrom for the award after Hilstrom encouraged Walton to shift to a new role. Walton had taught the Grade 8 English class for a number of years.

She received an e-mail in June and in August about the Canada’s Outstanding Principals, and even Hilstrom had only been at the school for a few years, Walton thought Hilstrom would be a worthy recipient.

“I thought we’ve got some great things, and we might have a chance,” said Walton. “I started looking into what it entailed, and realized I couldn’t do it on my own, and had to enlist a bunch of people to help.”

Three letters had to be submitted for the nomination, so Walton sought out endorsements from a staff member, a parent and two students, one of which is Hilstrom’s son and another who is relatively new to Sacred Heart. They also received letters from the division’s head office.

“Amber obviously, I believe, works well with staff, but also a good principal has to be good within the community, known to parents and trustworthy to parents,” said Walton.

Walton also compiled Hilstrom’s professional history, talked about Hilstrom’s instructional leadership, which Walton believes is one of Hilstrom’s strengths, and explained how Hilstrom has provided innovative leadership in education through such initiatives as Deep Learning.

“It also talks about what kind of professional learning teams does she have, what kind of partnerships has she formed with families in the community, and then personal growth initiatives does she want for herself.”

Not only is Hilstrom big into personal growth, but she was the first administrator Walton saw who would seek out personal development for staff based on their interests.

Walton is proud to see the technology that has been acquired during Hilstrom’s tenure and the impact Hilstrom has made on early years literacy, which Walton chalked up to Hilstrom’s literacy background.

“In the last couple of years, we have seen such a growth in reading scores, engagement scores and even anxiety that kids feel at school is being reduced because now we’re focusing on well-being within the school,” said Walton.

As part of being selected as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals, Hilstrom and the other principals will travel to Toronto from Feb. 23-28. She will get to collaborate with the other 29 principals who received the award, attend an awards ceremony on Feb. 26, and go to a conference at the Rotman School of Management to further explore leadership concepts, which they can bring back to the school to develop programs.

“This is truly an invaluable experience that I’m going to have. I feel like it’s going to allow me to grow as a principal, and then to be able to bring that back to the school again,” said Hilstrom.

All of the principals will be able to further expand what they’re able to offer to their students, she said.

Hilstrom is not the first local principal to be selected for this honour. Westview School principal Cheri Haberstock was selected three years ago. And Lynn Little, who is now the director of education for the South East Cornerstone Public School Division, was selected back when she was the principal of Pleasantdale School.

Hilstrom is looking forward to talking to them about the award, the trip to Toronto and how the experience has enhanced their careers.