Teachers share reflections on 25 years of PALS

Andrew Loughery has many fond memories of his days as a teacher and vice-principal at Prince Charles School in Saint John, N.B. Many of his favourite involve PALS (Partners Assisting Local Schools).

The now vice-principal of St. John the Baptist King Edward School, another PALS school, can remember entering the building when he started at Prince Charles as an early career teacher in 2003.

“As soon as you opened the doors, you knew the school was different from every other school,” he recalls.

Prince Charles School was the flagship school for PALS when it was first founded 25 years ago by J.K. Irving and the Anglophone South School District. Located across the street from J.D. Irving, Limited’s headquarters in Saint John, it was the obvious choice for the program’s first school. Created out of a belief that every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential, PALS has now grown to encompass over 25 schools and more than 150 community partners.

“And here we are 25 years later, and it's evolved so much. Other schools have caught on and now everyone wants or sees the value in a partnership,” said Jennifer Walsh, a teacher at Prince Charles School since 2002.

Today, PALS supports schools through breakfast and lunch programs, mentoring, career exploration, both co-curricular and extracurricular activities and many other programs.

As an early career teacher coming into Prince Charles School in the beginning years of PALS, Jennifer said it was clear that PALS imbued a noticeable positive atmosphere into the school. Classrooms were well-stocked with books and clothes; students were fed through breakfast and lunch programs as well as surprise pizza lunches; learning extended beyond the classroom through field trips and enrichment opportunities were provided for both students and staff.

Through the PALS Kids on the Go bus, Jennifer has taken her grade one classes on many excursions to experiences beyond their neighbourhood. Trips to the apple orchard, a farm, a book store, the library, even to the grocery store can go a long way in expanding a child’s horizons, she said.

 But it has been the steady stream of JDI volunteers crossing Union Street to the school to be coaches and mentors that has made the biggest difference in the lives of her students, Jennifer added.  

“It was people coming in that wanted to give their time to the kids,’ she said. “It takes a village, and JDI was part of that village.”

For Andrew, PALS’s greatest strength has lain in the many doors it opens for students through field trips and access to sports.

“PALS offered us the ability to give these kids opportunities and to have role models,” he said, noting that PALS provided equipment, jerseys and transportation to sport activities. As a volunteer coach on top of being a teacher, this is something Andrew said he has witnessed time and time again.

“There’s so many valuable things you learn playing sports. The camaraderie, the sportsmanship, all these different components they would have missed out on.”

Andrew vividly remembers class trips to JDI’s forestry and sawmill operations, as well as New Brunswick Southern Railway train rides. He still has the tree growing in his back yard from a trip to the Juniper Tree Nursery where all the students and teachers were given seedlings. Just as that tree has grown, PALS has provided thousands of local students with the opportunities they need to grow and succeed.

“There are some great memories for me,” Andrew said. “All my best moments teaching were through PALS.”

“It’s a helping hand,” Jennifer said. “For me, having that support was very important. It was something that we could depend on because PALS was committed.”