Wayne Rufiange is looking forward to his return to Westlock.
The R.F. Staples School alumnus, and Westlock-area native, has been selected as the school’s new principal, replacing Courtney Lawrance.
“It’s really exciting. I’m a little nervous, but overall it’s nice to come back to the community I grew up in,” said Rufiange.
“I’m excited to work with the children of friends I grew up with. It will be nice to reconnect with friends and family I haven’t seen in awhile.”
While much of the school remains the same after two and a half decades, Rufiange noticed that a number of the offices had moved around and the lunch area has been improved.
“Parking has changed a little bit and the configuration of the school is quite a bit different,” he said. “They filled in the pit in the cafeteria from when I was a student. Other than that, it looks very similar.”
Rufiange said he expected to spend his first year listening and learning.
Having spent the last six years overseeing Morinville’s first-ever public school grow from 90 to 790 students, he noted he’s happy to keeps his eyes and ears open for awhile.
One factor that pulled Rufiange back to Westlock was his strong ties to the community. Noting that his sister works in the school’s administration office, Rufiange is also amused by the concept that many of the teachers he learned from in high school will now be answering to him.
“There’s still some staff that taught me there,” he said. “My Math 10 teacher Darlene Blomme was my co-operating teacher when I was a student teacher. My first job was covering her maternity leave for a year at R.F. Staples.
“Now I’m her boss.”
It’s all in good fun however. He emphasized that his educational philosophy was oriented around treating the school as an extension of both the community and the students’ families.
“Kids spent a lot of time at school. When you look at those 10 months of the year, after you take away sleeping, they’re spending half or more of their waking hours in the school system,” he said. “So it really needs to be something where they feel comfortable and safe. If we can create that for kids, it’s easier on the teachers and things run a lot more smoothly.”
