Julie Ste Marie: Anything Worth Learning is Worth Experiencing Outside!
Pre-School Teacher, Jay Westfield Joint Elementary School
Julie Ste Marie is the amazing Pre-School Teacher at the Jay Westfield School, a member school of NCSU (North Country Supervisory Union) in the Northeast Kingdom. In her 33rd year of teaching, Julie has the energy of a twenty-eight-year-old. She has taught the gamut of elementary grades, beginning with 4th grade, moving up through 6, and then created the now impressive preschool program at her school, recognized widely for its student-focused, outdoor-oriented, experiential and inquiry-based learning.
Julie knew early she wanted to be a teacher.
Julie knew immediately that she wanted to teach, informed by a high school interest inventory at sixteen years old which revealed a strong match of her interests and strengths to teaching. She fulfilled that vision, and never looked back! It's what she wanted to do, and over the past forty years, that decision has served her and her communities well.
I did my four years of college and got right out and went up against ninety-nine candidates for my first job at Newport Town School. There was one job open. It was the perfect job for me! I just really could see myself in this building and working there. I got the job! I guess I sold myself to that first principal and board, and I was placed in fourth grade and spent a lot of years there.
Clearly, Julie was not only competent, but had the personality to communicate her vision, enthusiasm, and influence to others.
She experienced a boost when she transitioned to the Holland School after enduring an extremely tough year. Unsure of whether or not she was up to the task of this new position, she was open with her prospective principal.
He said something that was very powerful that stuck with me throughout many years and many different job assignments, and that was, “If you're a good teacher - and you are - you can teach any subject, for any students, in any building. You will be able to do it.” And he said, “I have confidence that you will rise to the occasion.” I accepted the job. And that was the best thing that I could have done for myself personally and professionally.
Why rural? Why Vermont? Why the outdoor learning focus?
Born and raised here, she feels it's really what she knows and loves. There wasn't a choice to move here. But there was always a choice to stay.
I've never wanted to live in a city. I am very much a rural person, and I think another thing that Holland did was to create a different sort of vision in my mind about education. There, we would bring the kids outdoors.
Inspired by her research into Swedish educating of young children, kids being treated as people, respected, given responsibility, and encouraged to do everything from zip lining, to using knives, and working with fire, all primarily outdoors, inspired her. So different and alternative from the traditional sense of American public-school learning.
And I remember being almost appalled by what that was and then I stopped to think - so my son is a very outdoorsy kid, and school was really hard for him because it was confining, it was boring, and it was not what he was interested in. Luckily, Troy School, where he went, had a bunch of programs and opportunities for kids to get outside and to do outdoor things.
And so, when Julie developed the preschool program to be more of an outdoor learning style preschool, her purpose was - if she could bring her own son back into a preschool, rewind time, what would he have liked? This is the centerpiece of the Jay Westfield Pre-School.
Learning by the river. Hiking up at the Jay REC trails. I've been able to gather interest as my preschoolers advance into the older grades. Beats playing in a confined space, or sitting in a confined space. And especially for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, we should be letting them grow and develop a sense of their physical body, their curiosity, and their perseverance. So, their physical bodies can grow, and I'll tell you, out here in the woods, they don't get hurt. They do get hurt on the playground equipment though. Playground equipment is a lot harder and lacking in dramatic play possibilities. Over in the woods they have so many opportunities which they have to create, or you help them create.
They bring with them that joy and ability to be outdoors for long periods of time, and to be uncomfortable. Because with weather like ours, you have to be okay with being a little bit uncomfortable. Whether it's - my boots aren't comfortable, my mittens aren't comfortable, this neck warmer covering up every little bit is not comfortable, kids have to learn to be okay with being a little bit uncomfortable.
And building relationships with families, even if they don't really feel comfortable. When parents come in, I can now imagine what they were like as children. And what their hesitancy might be, their discomfort in schools. I try to meet them where they're at. I just meet with them outdoors. And it's easier for them to join school when it's outdoors or when their kids are outdoors.
I've asked them to accompany us on hikes up at the JREC trails. And I've had a number of dads feel like, yeah, that's something that I really enjoy doing. So, they'll be part of the hike for the day and they really enjoy doing that. Whereas if I ask them to volunteer inside the classroom - no way.
What has kept Julie teaching non-stop for more than thirty years and what have been the challenges?
It never occurred to Julie to leave her profession. She was able to change schools and grade levels, staying energized and fresh. Even through a year filled with trauma in one school building, she persisted.
Some days you walk in and you feel like, I've got this. And then other days, I don't care how many years you've been teaching, you walk in and you feel like you are just stuck in the mud with no good ideas or you don't know how to solve a problem that might be happening within the dynamics of your classroom or your building.
I think one of the things that has kept me so excited about teaching all of these years is a little bit the kind of moving around that I've done between schools and between grade levels, although I think you could teach in the same grade level your whole entire career and there is not one day that is going to be like the next day.
Julie knows that character and community are as important as academic learning.
…they still have to have self confidence that what they do is primary, and that they are a good human being. And that's like the most important thing that I've just tried to keep in the forefront of my mind all of those years of teaching is that that child may not leave my room with great reading skills or great writing skills because of a disability or a mental block or whatever, but they need to know that that they can do it, that they can persevere and that they are good people. And they want to come back tomorrow. And then what you hope is that that continues each year. They understand not everybody has the same strengths and not everybody has the same challenges.
The return from COVID presented the greatest challenge.
It never even occurred to me to leave the profession. Never even occurred to me. At my lowest moment, I knew that I would just try to get a job somewhere doing something in education, though I didn't know what that was.
We had families in crisis, children in crisis. I felt really nervous to be back. I felt like all of the demands that were being placed on us by the Department of Health and the Department of Education [were overwhelming] and we had had a switchover in our administration here. All of that combined to made me feel like I was standing underneath a waterfall and there was nothing that I could do to get out. That was the only time that I really thought, I can't do this. Then, those difficult situations let up.
Julie soldiered on, and believes that the torrent of issues and situations that COVID brought have simmered down in many areas of life, including the school. Lack of staffing was and remains an issue, particularly in her small rural school. It puts a huge strain on the entire system.
Everybody's running and there's no time to really stop or breathe or plan.
And what is next for Julie Ste Marie?
Julie is on track for retiring after the 2024-25 school year, and has a pretty clear vision of her future life. She has invested much in helping to establish the secession plan, is excited about spending more time with her family, particularly her new granddaughter for whom she will provide part time child care, and is already mourning the loss of significant relationships she knows she will miss, totally understandable, given her tenure and contributions to the field. With that clarity, she expresses mixed emotions, she talks about what she will miss most, and it’s all about relationships – with her students, with their parents, and with her colleagues.
I will care for my granddaughter and will also sub one day a week. That way I can still be part of this family. I will love it. I'll get to come in. I'll see all the students that I've already taught. I mean, I've taught all the way up through the 6th graders this year; they were my first class.
When I think about retiring, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do without interactions and the relationships that I have in the buildings that I'm working in.
First and foremost is my relationship with my students. And if you've ever been in a preschool room, you know that those kids are so pure, like their entire being is pure. Their love of learning is pure. Their relationships are pure. Their conversations that they have with you and others are just …pure and sometimes it's pure joy and sometimes it's pure, I don't want to say hatred because there's no hate in their body, but pure emotion. Sometimes it's pure confusion or just not understanding what's going on around them. But they don't have any preconceived notions of what they can't do. They think that they can do it all. They're excited about every little tiny thing. So, that kind of joy is brought to me every day times 15 students times 175 days of the year.
The second cluster of relationships Julie describes is with the students’ parents. She has become something of a godmother to them. She was their gateway to public education, and created relationships that were comfortable and trusting. She admits to being old enough to be their parents at this stage of her game! The parents of those students are my own kids ages! They come to her for everything. They text her when a bus doesn’t show up on a non-school day, or when it’s late. They ask her for resources, advice, and continue to do so, even years after the kids have graduated pre-school. Teachers of the upper grades will also consult with her about family concerns. This all comes from a place of confidence and trust.
Teachers will come to me and they'll say, you know, we haven't seen so and so all year long. You know, we haven't heard hide nor hair from this family. Is there any way that maybe you could get in touch with them and ask them to come in?
And then I will reach out to them, like the liaison and I’ll try to give them really solid advice about what to expect and what not to expect.
Finally, her colleagues, even though she didn't get to see very many of them in a day's time. She felt very connected to the other teachers and staff, all of whom are precious for her.
Sometimes my family has to take a back seat to all of it. I mean, really, I've felt like that over the years. It's just like when school is in session, I feel like I give so much that there are times where I feel like I don't have a whole lot left for my own family. And I know that that's really hard.
As young teachers enter this profession, there is so much of one’s own time and energy that is consumed by the nature of the position. It's really challenging to find a balance. I think I felt, as a mom, that I couldn't give a hundred percent to my teaching and I couldn't give a hundred percent to my job - as a mom or as a wife and so I felt I was switching those hats out really quick and doing the best that I could.
Clearly Julie Ste Marie will have left her indelible mark and impact on her work, her school(s), her students, and on their families, as an outstanding teacher in rural Vermont. She will be missed, but in her transition plan, she will remain, at least in part, within in her beloved community of the Northeast Kingdom.
