Walkerville copes with loss of teacher

Johnathan Hutton

March 24,2015

 

Hundreds of Walkerville Collegiate Institute high school students lined Richmond Street on Tuesday to pay their respects and say a last farewell to a favourite teacher.

 

Rob Baxter died March 18 after suffering a brain aneurism the previous Monday. The 37-year-old had been a teacher for 10 years and was also the school’s librarian. Baxter was involved in school activities including student council where he acted as a teacher representative. He also participated in the school’s drama productions and took part in “Spirit Weeks”, dressing up in various costumes.

 

Walkerville’s Principal said Baxter was a well liked colleague and it has been incredibly difficult for staff members to deal with the loss of Baxter.

 

“A lot of the staff are not just very close friends with Rob, but they are the same age,” said David Garlic Principal of Walkerville. “ He was a very young man to pass the way he did and it was a shock to all of us. As a family we are still working through that.”

 

 

Many Students and teachers are dealing with the loss of Baxter in different ways.

Walkerville Vice Principal, Desreen Brunette, said a number of resources are available to help students cope with Baxter’s death.

 

“All of the staff is here and available to students and for each other. We have a guidance team of two guidance councilors, myself and the principal,” said Brunette. “The board has also sent the social work department, the head of social work services and two other councilors to the school over the last couple of days. They will keep coming back until they are no longer needed.”

 

Krysta Brosseau, Walkerville’s guidance department head, said she has noticed solidarity between students as they seek comfort in each other.

 

“It’s in times like these where you see the resiliency in people. You have heartwarming moments when you see people come together to support each other,” said Brosseau.“Today I was in the hallway with students that were upset and several passers by offered comfort to these students in the form of a hug. Before you knew it, there were 15 others there to support them. They didn’t necessarily know each other, but in that moment they all knew how to support each other. I thought that was pretty inspiring.”

 

The students at Walkerville came up with their own way to honour Baxter. As he was known for often wearing bowties to school, they started a project called bowties for Baxter. The students, with the help of the fashion and art teacher, Pat Miller, took fabric left over from previous assignments and made bow ties. Almost every student wore one of these bow ties on March 24 as a tribute to Baxter.

 

“He was sort of a bridge between being a kid and being an adult. I mean that as a big compliment. He was also very involved in things I know the kids enjoyed,” said Garlic. “Rob never veered far away from being a child in addition to being a very professional librarian and teacher. He was incredibly involved in professional development and he embodied school spirit. It’s going to be impossible to replace a man like him.”