Moving day is coming for UFV’s School of Education. On July 29 they’ll be relocating from their current home on the Abbotsford campus to a new home in Mission. The UFV building in Mission has been completely renovated and provides room to grow for a thriving program.

“We’ve gone from 64 students to 106, making it a significant teacher education program in the province.” says Allyson Jule, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Community, and Human Development. “We are moving them into a community that is very welcoming and has wanted us here for a long time, and we’re thankful to Mayor Paul Horn, Mission council and so many other people for their support.”

The renewed space recognizes Stó:lō Téméxw, the traditional territory of the Stó:lō peoples. Carvings and symbols appear throughout, and Indigenous artwork on every wall. Among those will be a piece created by Una-Ann Moyer depicting a raven, beaver, bear, and Sasquatch paddling a canoe that rests atop a sturgeon. It will hang in the library on the main floor, and Jule is equally excited about two pillars at the outside entrance.

“They are uniquely Stó:lō,” Jule says. “Throughout the building, the artwork, the materials, even the structure has been built with Stó:lō aesthetic, including cedar, a preserved moss wall, and lots of rounded corners.”

In addition to the library, the main floor includes bookable community spaces. The second floor has state-of-the-art classrooms, a sensory room, lounge areas for the students, and offices for faculty.

The School of Education is newly formed, bringing Teacher Education and Early Childhood Education together under one roof. The latter was previously under the umbrella of Child, Youth, and Family Studies and brings another 60-plus students into the building.

Sheryl MacMath is the School of Education’s newly minted director, taking on the new role after previously serving as department head. The longtime professor loves to teach and says she’ll miss being in the classroom, but a new challenge awaits.

“As department head and instructor, my focus was on teaching students, and now it’s mentoring faculty, but that in itself is a type of teaching,” MacMath says. “I want them to be able to do all the amazing things they want to do, and it’s my job now to make it happen. They have a vision of what’s needed to maximize opportunities for students, and a lot of my role in this move has been advocating on their behalf. It’s been such a gift to be able to do that.”

MacMath played an integral role in planning the move and says she’s looking forward to making the transition in a lively work environment that offers significantly more space than their current spot in Building D on the Abbotsford campus.

“We have games. We have dice. We’re singing and dancing, and having our classrooms be quiet at exam time has been a challenge,” MacMath laughs. “No other class wanted to be around our little section, and now we’re going to a place where no one else will be around to tell us to be quiet. We can be as loud as we want to be.”

MacMath hasn’t been in the building yet as it’s still in hard-hat stage. But she saw what it looked like before, and she’s been envisioning the after.

“Rather than having to work around the space we have, as we currently do, we’re going to have space that supports us and works with the way we want to do things,” MacMath says. “I’m picturing a place we’ll all go into where we’ll take a relaxing breath and think, ‘We’re home.’”