His work raising awareness about social equity and diversity has netted a Richmond secondary teacher the Premier’s Award for Excellence in Education.
Michael Taylor from Hugh Boyd secondary was honoured in Victoria on Thursday as the recipient of the prestigious award for focusing on such issues as truth and reconciliation and empowering girls.
“It was a true honour and incredibly humbling to be acknowledged in a room full of such thoughtful and hardworking teachers,” he told the Richmond News after attending the awards ceremony.
Taylor and his students have raised awareness on a wide variety of causes over the years. Most recently, they fundraised to buy an Every Child Matters flag for every school in the school district as a part of their Truth and Reconciliation initiatives.
From recognizing fearless girls and cheering up seniors with flowers, Boyd social justice students have touched every part of the Richmond community.
Boyd vice-principal Afamdi Onukwulu, who nominated Taylor, said in a YouTube video that Taylor’s students are able to discuss complex issues and take action to address them.
“Excellent education is making sure students understand why they are doing what they are doing, and the results that they can produce are actually quite powerful,” he said.
“Michael’s entire class embodies that.”
The YouTube video was produced to showcase the work of award recipients, and Taylor said having his students’ latest projects featured in the video was “so rewarding and special.”
“The video really encapsulated the essence of what our social justice programs at Boyd aim to accomplish, which is to inspire students to recognize that they cannot just observe a problem but take action and create tangible change in their community,” he said.
A full list of this year’s recipients of the Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Education is available online.
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