Why I Give: Mr. Cole Carlson

Mr. Cole Carlson joined the GNS team in 2020 as our Deputy Head of School, Academics. He is also a parent to GNS alum Mason ’23, and current Grade 12 students Jaxon and Kaden as well as being a host parent in our Family Boarding program. Amongst his very busy schedule, you can see Mr. Carlson featured in our Annual Appeal’s Fill the Box campaign videos! We sat down with Mr. Carlson to discuss his time at GNS and why he believes in giving back to the school community.

Why did you choose teaching as the right path for you? 

Growing up, I was always into sports. I was a swimmer and worked as a lifeguard, teaching swimming lessons, and working in day camps. So I had a lot of exposure to working with kids and I learned that I really enjoyed it. My first degree was in biology, and I aspired to either work with animals or work with children. In fact, my dream job at the time was to do what the hosts of the TV show Zoboomafoo were doing. They were brothers who were traveling the world and doing cool things with animals, on an educational television show for kids. I went back to school to go into education to focus on working with kids and teaching science.

If you were to go back to the classroom, what would you want to be teaching? 

In my teaching career I mainly taught math and science from Grade 7 to 10, but I also served as a Head of Department, Academic Program & Curriculum Development Coordinator, Athletic Director and Principal. I would say my favourite course to teach would be Grade 9 Science. When I was teaching it, it included genetics, space exploration, electricity and chemistry, so you had a chance to cover many cool aspects of science. There is joy to be had in working with kids of all ages for sure, but the sense of humour with that age group is my favourite.

What made you want to be part of the GNS community?

The job was incredibly exciting for me primarily as it was a real opportunity to closely work with Mr. Chad Holtum in his role as Head of School and with an exceptional team collaboratively on a lot of things. Our team is talented, supportive, mission-focused and eager to find ways to constantly improve, which makes for a great work environment.  I believe in the power of an International Baccalaureate education and my children had been in an IB Continuum school previously, so it was exciting to move to another one and have that transition be smoother for my own family. I wholeheartedly believe in the IB Programmes as they are well-balanced, academically rigorous and designed for all kinds of learners. The IB learner profile attributes are character traits that I wanted my children to have. 

Obviously Victoria’s an incredible city too! I spent a lot of summers in Victoria as a child visiting my family. Outside of work, I’m an outdoorsy person. We came from Alberta and I love the mountains, but I also love the west coast ocean environment too—it’s another kind of beauty. I definitely enjoy being able to get out and hike or run on a trail in December and January.

Why did GNS launch the fill the box campaign? 

There are always areas to support in terms of our curriculum and co-curricular programming and I think we are looking forward to providing opportunities for our students that we otherwise wouldn’t have. As a school, it all goes back to the vision “to prepare outstanding citizens of character who will contribute to the world through their leadership, their commitment to service and their understanding that we are all responsible for the future of our communities.” Our families have worked really hard to put their children in a position where they can access opportunities and this school is an exceptional school that has a lot to offer and students are able to take advantage of that. If you have the opportunity to give back to others to improve the experience of other people, that’s something our whole community believes in doing, and that’s something my family believes in.

Why do you personally believe in donating where you work and where your kids go to school? 

Whether it’s through time, resources, expertise or knowledge sharing, I think that if you’re in a position where you can give back, you should. I choose to give to the school because I think people give back to things they are passionate about, and I’m passionate about education, the programs that we’re running here and seeing our students thriving. 

Why do you think other community members should consider donating to fill the box? 

I think it comes down to what you are passionate about. But the fill the box campaign, there’s a lot of different angles that you can latch onto to support our students and our programs. I think that in any capacity that people are giving back, they’re going to be able to see the benefits of that, which is really exciting. You can see the tangible results of that giving, whether it’s academic enrichment for kids, or through the arts or through athletics, or just supporting us replacing consumable resources that need updating over time because they’ve been well loved and well used. So our community helps us do that with the students and it puts us in a great position to be able to deliver on our strategic plan and support the students in meaningful ways.

Help us fill the Junior School, Middle School, and Senior School boxes this year to enrich the experience of students every day. Every donation to our Annual Appeal, no matter the size, creates opportunities that enrich student life which tuition alone cannot provide. It is through the support of our entire community that we are able to provide enriched learning experiences for our students, now and in the future.