BCPVPA | BC Principals and Vice Principals

Darren Danyluk

June 10, 2022 message to members

Convertible
I have a picture of my father, sitting in the driver’s seat of a 1958 Ford Fairlane with the top down. He is about twenty-two, and parked in front of the service station where he worked... Read more

Darren Danyluk

June 3, 2022 Message to Members

We Drill
We begin routines at a very young age, as young as kindergarten and pre-school. My earliest school years are well in the past and my recall of that time is vague and shapeless, with the exception of two memories... Read more

Darren Danyluk

May 27, 2022 Message to Members

Anniversaries
I would never have been described as ‘worldly’ when I started my undergrad at seventeen. I did very little travelling as a boy: Kamloops, Edmonton, Seattle… oh, and Disneyland! Living the life of a student, and then a new teacher, exposed me only to BC soil until... Read more

Darren Danyluk

May 20, 2022 Message to Members

“If you ask me…”
I am not a December baby, but my birthday is in the latter half of the year, the second week of September. This fact, combined with an uninterrupted passage through secondary and post-secondary education, meant... Read more

Darren Danyluk

May 13, 2022 Message to Members

“With a little help from my friends”

I am not very handy. I have tremendous admiration for those who can build, repair, and create. I can recall three times in my life when I put my hands to the test with DIY projects. The first time was when I dropped the engine out of my Volkswagen Beetle... Read more

Darren Danyluk

May 6, 2022 Message to Members

“I’ve seen it all in a small town”
My iPad is my morning alarm, and it is set to wake me with music instead of some harsh siren. John Mayer’s lyrics seep into my sleep this week. I’m not sure what a “nascent trying to harness huge fire” means, but the words conjure images which weave their way into my dreams... Read more

Darren Danyluk

April 29, 2022 Message to Members

From the Field

I seem to be catching up on the travelling I was not able to do these last two years. While it has kept me busy and in motion, it has also provided me with so many wonderful opportunities to connect with our members throughout BC... Read more

Darren Danyluk

April 22, 2022 Message to Members

“Goodnight, Mary-Ellen.”

BC is a big province, and for ten days I have been travelling from its Eastern border, along the Trans-Canada Highway, my final destination a return to Vancouver shores. I have been spending time with our members in the Chapters which dot this route... Read more

Darren Danyluk

April 14, 2022 Message to Members

30 Days

As a single man, I drove a Jeep. It was a 1984 CJ7, and I loved it. I drove it with a hard top and doors for half the year, and swapped those for their vinyl counterparts in the spring. The best time was when I could put down the top and lose the doors... Read more

Darren Danyluk

April 8, 2022 Message to Members

In Passing

Facebook is an interesting place – can I call it a ‘place’? – and I try very hard to avoid the rabbit holes. The platform is double-edged because it is also a remarkable means to connect with friends and family. One of my ‘friends’ is also an aunt... Read more

Darren Danyluk

April 1, 2022 Message to Members

“A pinch and a punch…”
It started early in our relationship and is one of the many little things about my wife that makes me smile. I start every morning with a cup of coffee, and I’ve never been particular about the brand or the quality... Read more

Darren Danyluk

Mar 11, 2022 Message to Members

About Time
It was one of those times when a coincidence feels like something more and is hard to dismiss.

I was familiar with only one school in the Surrey District, the one in which my teaching career began. I completed my practicum at one of Surrey’s junior secondary schools, and those weeks still rank among the most challenging times... Read more

Darren Danyluk

Mar 4, 2022 Message to Members

Cім'ї

It is called pysanky, and it is beautiful and delicate. And, apparently, it is something at which I have some skill. Who knew? Growing up, I certainly didn’t, as it was not a tradition passed down from my elders to me, as one might expect. Instead, it was a Newfoundlander who taught me... Read more

Darren Danyluk

Feb 25, 2022 Message to Members

Licensed To Drive

For Family Day 2022, our two daughters joined my wife and I on a crisp walk in Lynn Canyon. This was my third visit to this forest walk with dizzying clifftop views and a suspended bridge. My last visit was thirty years ago... Read more

Darren Danyluk

Feb 18, 2022 Message to Members

“Anything but ordinary”

I was the Principal at my last school for many years. Before that, I was one of the Vice-Principals on the team. When I left this school in July of 2020 to assume my role with the Association, I knew every brick and tile of the building... Read more

Darren Danyluk

Feb 11, 2022 Message to Members

“Violets are blue”

I make my bed in the morning. I’m sure I read somewhere that this is a good strategy to start the day well. It’s how I end my routine that begins my day – every day, for years now, even on weekends, holidays, and breaks... read more

Darren Danyluk

Feb 4, 2022 Message to Members

“While I have your attention…”
It has been an eventful week, and promises to be an eventful month. Maybe because February is the shortest month, it feels more dense, as if we packed for a two week vacation with... read more

Darren Danyluk

Jan 28, 2022 Message to Members

Kodachrome
I tell myself that I remember the day a man walked on the moon. It is a tricky thing, memory: inextricable from our identity, personal and cultural.

I’m certain of this memory, which places me in the living room of our Edmonton house, sitting cross-legged on the orange shag carpet at about two o’clock on a summer afternoon... read more

Darren Danyluk

Jan 21, 2022 Message to Members

“The shirt off my back…”
On the morning of January 14th, when I arrived at the office, I had a flashback…

In the last week of September 2020, I was rushing from store to store in a Vancouver shopping centre. It was near closing time, and I was struggling to find one item: an orange shirt. I had only recently made the move to the city, and hadn’t brought all of my clothes from home... read more

Darren Danyluk

Jan 14, 2022 Message to Members

The Likes of Aesop
Having been born and raised in the Columbia Valley of the East Kootenays, my daughters were pretty much guaranteed snow for Christmas every year. Even after moving on to attend university... read more

Darren Danyluk

Dec 17, 2021 Message to Members

Collecting
One day in the hallway, just outside the theatre doors, I was waiting on a class to arrive for our assembly. On a table in the hallway with me I had set my old iPod from which I was going to play a song. It was a chunky 4th generation model... read more

Darren Danyluk

Dec 10, 2021 Message to Members

“I’ve got a nickel”
I like to sing. Most recently, I’ve been a member of my hometown’s community choir which performs twice a year: at Christmas, and in the spring. Each performance is the culmination of four months of rehearsal and preparation... read more

Darren Danyluk

Dec 3, 2021 Message to Members

“Late, not absent.”
This week, the BCPVPA hosted the first webinar in the Leading for Equity Series. Unfortunately, I was on the road during this webinar, which limited my participation to listening intently. While there was so much rich information... read more

Darren Danyluk

Nov 26, 2021 Message to Members

“After the tone…”
I am a bit of a technology geek, and I love my cell phone. I really love it. My wife will tell you, with frustration in her voice, that I spend far too much time glued to it... read more

Darren Danyluk

Nov 19, 2021 Message to Members

“When It Rains…”
Although I was born in New Westminster, I lived for a short time in Edmonton when I was quite young. One summer... read more

Darren Danyluk

Nov 12, 2021 Message to Members

Unforgettable Days
The Port Moody Legion is where the cenotaph was located throughout my childhood and youth. Year after year... read more

Darren Danyluk

Nov 5, 2021 Message to Members

Handlebars
My knee has been hurting me for some time now. I tell people that it has been bothering me since June... read more

Darren Danyluk

Oct 29, 2021 Message to Members

“Whose skin is this design”

I once dressed up as Batman for Hallowe’en. The costume my mother made by hand was amazing! In another year, she made me a Robin costume... read more

Darren Danyluk

Oct 22, 2021 Message to Members

"Just the Same"
The four of us stood at attention, awkwardly, in the Commissioner’s living room... read more

Darren Danyluk

Oct 15, 2021 Message to Members

Xweýene:msta:m ?əkwəsqwel, seýeḿ
One Friday morning, many years ago, I left my classroom feeling very satisfied with myself and my skills as a teacher... read more

Darren Danyluk

Oct 8, 2021 Message to Members

“Cream and sugar?”
The very first group of students I stood before as a teacher – or nearly a teacher – was an English 12 class at Maple Ridge Secondary School... read more

Darren Danyluk

Oct 1, 2021 Message to Members

"A Single Day"
I learned that love can happen at first sight; it took only a moment... read more

Darren Danyluk

Sept 24, 2021 Message to Members

“Follow the Leaders”
My dad lives near Salmon Arm, and that is where my three brothers grew up and went to school... read more

Darren Danyluk

Sept 17, 2021 Message to Members

"The Number of My Days"
Last week, my daughter got ambitious and decided to do a bit of cleaning around the kitchen... read more

Darren Danyluk

September 10, 2021 Message to Members

“Honey, I’m home!”
I have introduced our readers to the members of my immediate family. I have introduced my wife, a source of inspiration in perpetual motion... read more

Darren Danyluk

September 3, 2021 Message to Members

"Let me give you my number..."
Like many of us, I have a complicated relationship with social media... read more

Darren Danyluk

August 27, 2021 Message to Members

Where There Is Smoke
I sat in the car, watching the flickers of orange begin to show through the wood siding of the building... read more

Darren Danyluk

June 17, 2022 Message to Members

“Dweller on the Threshold”
I feel a little superior, being of the Walkman generation. My contemporaries may share this conceit, born of the toil before music became personal and portable at the same time. We remember when... Read more