When Carihi principal Fred Schaub was in high school, he hated it, nowadays, school is everything he does.
Schaub has been at Carihi for just over two years. He became the new principal, a promotion from vice-principal the previous school year, after the departure of principal Sean Toal.
Schaub says his favourite part of being a principal is making it work for the students.
“At night when I go to bed, what makes me feel good is knowing [we have] helped another struggling student,” Schaub says.
He also says it is easy to go to work, especially at a place like Carihi.
Schaub grew up in Switzerland and that is where he went to school until he was 16. He became an apprentice after that and eventually went to school for chemical engineering.
“I loved it, [but] I went in the wrong direction,” Schaub said. “When I was a kid, you’d get streamed according to the profession of your parents, not really [based on] your skills…In Switzerland you either fit in or you don’t.”
He later became a cabinet maker and soon got married.
In 1988, with his wife and one son, they moved to Canada. Schaub was seeking a different lifestyle than what he had grown up in. He and his wife had a second son in Canada. They moved to Calgary and lived there for a while before moving to the Shuswap and staying there for 20 years.
When Schaub’s children were in school, he noticed how different the system was from Switerland’s. He got himself involved in school activities such as field trips and coaching hockey.
In 1999, when all of the kids were out of school, Schaub began his teaching degree.
He enjoyed the school environment and working with young people. He did the first three years of the degree via distance learning, accumulating 90 university credits as well as working.
He then went to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops to complete his undergrad. He did his Master’s at Simon Fraser University..
At the moment, he is working on his doctorate at the University of Calgary.
“I love going to school,” he said. “I sort of need that as a balance.”
Looking back, he never would have thought he would have gone into teaching - neither would his peers. “I even surprise myself sometimes,” he said.
To graduating Grade 12s, Mr. Schaub has only one thing to say, “You got about 80 years in this place; don’t have regrets,…If things go the wrong way, look for change.”