Guy Penney final day with Northlands College is July 1. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

congratulations

‘I just want to say thank you’: Penney retires from Northlands College

Jun 24, 2022 | 5:04 PM

With an education career spanning three decades now behind him, Guy Penney wants to express his sincere gratitude to the residents of northern Saskatchewan.

“Every opportunity I’ve had in my adult life has been given to me by northern Saskatchewan,” he said. “I’m very grateful for all of that. Northern Saskatchewan holds a very warm place in my heart and I will never, ever forget the friends and colleagues and students who I have encountered and worked with over the years. I feel very blessed and, now that I am at the end of my career, I just want to say thank you.”

Penney was born and raised in Stephenville, NFLD, and he attended elementary and high school at nearby Lourdes. He graduated in 1985 and later attended university in St. John’s where he earned a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1991.

In that same year, Penney moved to northern Saskatchewan and began his teaching career at Dene High School in La Loche in 1993. He spent three years there before he accepted a job at La Ronge’s Churchill Community High School teaching math and physics. Penney would later become the vice-principal at Churchill and he remained there for 15 years.

“I was there until I moved over to the Northern Teacher Education Program (NORTEP) and that would have been 2010,” he said. “I became one of the faculty members and I was teaching the education classes in the program, so I spent three years at NORTEP doing that. I also spent a fair bit of time in the field visiting preservice teachers.”

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In the fall of 2013, Penney joined Northlands College as a director, but he later became a vice-president before accepting the position of president and CEO in August 2019. He’s been in that role ever since and his official retirement date is July 1.

“I felt I was ready for the role and in many ways I was,” Penney said. “The was one thing I wasn’t ready for, along with the rest of the world, is the pandemic. I was only just a few short months into my first year and then everything kind of went sideways. All of the challenges and obstacles that went with the pandemic were laid at my feet. I’m proud to say we were still able to serve the needs of our students despite those challenges.”

Penney explained education wasn’t his initial plan for a career because he originally wanted to attend law school. He became a teacher due to financial restraints, but he noted when he looks back at his career, he looks back on it fondly. Penney added he felt in his element as a classroom teacher and that it felt like he was meant to be one.

He mentioned the most rewarding part of teaching is what he calls lightbulb moments. It’s when he’s teaching a student or group of students who are struggling, but they suddenly understand how to do something with his guidance.

“There’s no greater feeling being a teacher than being a witness to those moments because there’s such a sense of fulfilment and it is the reason why teachers do what they do,” Penney said.

Penney wanted people to know that a job in education is one the most honourable jobs a person can do. He said it’s one that touches so many other careers in society and one that can lead to an array of opportunities.

As for retirement, Penney stated he’s already been living in Saskatoon for some time and that he doesn’t have big plans. He said the last year has been rough for him because of personal reasons and that he wants to take stock of his life, regroup, rest and figure out what the next chapter in his life will be.

“I’m looking forward to a change in scenery a little bit,” Penney said. “I guess I’m going to have to get used to living in the city again, but I still always want to keep my attachment to the North and I want to make sure I’m coming back to visit.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno