Teresa Di Ninno, who founded CAPE School, meets well-wishers at a retirement tea at the school on Friday afternoon.--News Photo Collin Gallant
@CollinGallant
Thirty years after founding CAPE School, Teresa Di Ninno’s 30-year-career was celebrated as she prepares to retire as the charter school’s superintendent.
A student assembly and performances in her honour were held in the morning prior to a staff luncheon and an afternoon tea for former students, parents and well-wishers.
She has been an instructor and principal over the years, and retires now superintendent
All parties on Friday’s celebrations refer to her now as founder of the school that began in 1995 with 27 students in the former Safeway Medical Clinic on the Southeast Hill.
“The concept is integrated teaching and learning with a focus on hands on education, a personalized program that looks at each child as an individual with strengths and needs,” said
“They can move on to be the best person they can be with certain skills that well help, no matter what their passion is.”
CAPE was of the first three charter schools in Alberta when it opened with Di Ninno handling teaching responsibilities on the staff as well as principal and general “jack of all trades.”
After a move to and from the former St. Louis School on Allowance Avenue, moved into a modernized former section of Medicine Hat High School in 2019.
It now has a student body of 300.
Current principal Jeney Gordon said Di Ninno’s impact on the school is “immeasurable.”
“How to measure the impact of someone who started a school that has seen thousands of kids come through and changed their trajectory for the better,” Gordon said.
“Having a school where students could thrive and flourish was always the goal.”
The school’s operation and education philosophical style appealed to Di Ninno early in her teaching career.
Raised in Montreal, Di Ninno arrived in Alberta after being a university level instructor to teach in Jenner, then Ralston. Handling three grades splits was difficult but with supportive parents and teachable kids she became interested in promoting science fairs and public speaking..
But, she was saddened to see “a loss of enthusiasm” after graduation.
“I thought there had to be a better way to keep kids engaged and enthusiastic about learning,” she said, and became interested in new teaching philosophies and spearheaded a one-year pilot.
The next year she branched out to create the school with a small group of supportive parents. Months later Alberta outlined charter school regulations halfway through the initial year, and designation began the following September with 100 students enrolled.
“When I was five-years-old I wanted to do nothing else but teach,” she told the News. “I would organize singing competitions and pretend schools, and was always the announcer, organizer and the teacher.”
“It’s been my passion my whole life.”
Di Ninno will remain as a consultant with the school next year.
