Marshall Mays
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Principal
Marshall Mays is the Principal of the Maples Met School in Winnipeg – A Big Picture Learning School that takes a unique approach to education, by centering learning around the student's interests. Prior to taking over his new role in September of 2022, Marshall was an instructor in the Broadcast Media (Channel 7 Oaks) program at Maples Collegiate. During the 2014-15 academic year, Marshall completed a Post-Bac Diploma in Education at the University of Winnipeg. In 2016, he began and completed a Master of Education in Sustainability, Creativity, and Innovation at the University of Cape Breton where his main area of research was in creative learning platforms, design thinking, PBL, and experiential learning. With a formal background in computer science and physics, Marshall enjoys technology and building creative web-based software applications. Marshall enjoys spending time with family, watching a good film, and camping. He looks forward to getting back to nature while camping in Nopiming Provincial Park.
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Sara Germain
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Areas of interest and research: Sara's passions lie in examining the natural world and the big questions that arise from this practice. Her research interests focus on designing authentic learning experiences expressed through projects, leaving to learn experiences and classroom community collaboration that ignite student passion and rigour.
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Jessica Robinson
| Grade 9 AdvisorAreas of interest and research: Jessica is passionate about reading and writing. She is an avid reader herself and loves challenging students to become lifelong readers themselves. One of her favourite books of all time is “A Little Life" because the character changed the way she sees the world. She believes that you shouldn't leave a book the same way you entered it. She is a huge advocate for writing as a form of communication and empowering students to use their own voices while being driven by choice. She writes alongside her students; her most recent contribution being to the Seven Oaks School Division student/teacher collaborative publication, “Going Viral." Inquiry has become a large focus in her career, and she hopes to provide students with the ability to ask open-ended questions, develop projects that demonstrate synthesis and become lifelong learners.
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Morgan Biggs
| Grade 10 Advisor
Bio Coming Soon!
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Amber Brown
| Grade 10 Advisor
Seven Oaks School Division has been my second home since 2006. I have worked in classrooms as an educational assistant through the CATEP program, as a supply teacher, a middle years teacher and learning support teacher before landing here at Maples Met. I value each of those roles as the experiences have shaped me into the educator I am today.
As an educator, my main goal is to provide an education that is reflective of our world. Where are we now? Where are we going? What hard and soft skills will students need to feel successful outside of the classroom walls? Whose voices need to be heard? I feel that play is equally as important as work - balance is a must. I am also active on the union side having been a part of the Indigenous Voice and Action Standing Committee with The Manitoba Teachers Society for just under 10 years.
On a personal level, I am on a continuous journey of exploring my Red River Metis and Ukrainian roots to better understand who I am, where I come from, where I am going, and why I am here. I love basking in the sunshine, reading novels that help me understand the human experience, eating delicious, diverse food, and travelling to far away destinations (best if experienced all at once).
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Navdeep Dhaliwal
| Areas of interest and research: Hello, my name is Navdeep Dhaliwal. I love math, art, and traveling. I’m always trying to find ways to meaningfully engage students in the studies of mathematics and alleviate their math anxiety, especially related to assessment. I believe that learning can be fun, meaningful, and rigorous simultaneously. Therefore, an area I continue to explore is how I can create more equity in my classroom and make learning more accessible for all students.
When I’m not teaching curricular content, I love engaging in activities that celebrate art and culture, such as rock painting, henna tattooing, cooking and learning traditional recipes, Punjabi folk dancing, etc. I also encourage students to celebrate and grow their talents and skills. Each day, I aim to bring my whole self to my classroom so that my students can too.
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Emma Gehrs-Whyte | Emma has been an Advisor at the Maples Met School since September 2018. As an Advisor, she values exploring big questions and ideas with her students, and working with them to develop meaningful and authentic projects that engage them in solving complex problems. Some of her priorities as an educator are climate justice, equity in the education system, language arts, and helping all students develop confidence and agency in mathematics. These are areas in which she is always looking to learn more and develop her practice. She loves having the opportunity to build relationships, community and culture with students over their four years at Met School. She also deeply appreciates the chance to learn alongside her students through their interests, challenges, questions, identities and experiences. Her quirks include having a brain made up mostly of musical theatre lyrics, riding her bike in all seasons, believing that children's books have profound meaning for people of any age, and getting weirdly excited about doing math on whiteboards.
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| Luke Taronno 
| Areas of interest and research: My name is Luke Taronno; I am a Met advisor and a graduate of the Industrial Arts Teacher Education Program. I love my role as an advisor and enjoy working at such a great place like The Maples Met School. I am in charge of the Maples Met Fabrication Lab and with my background in industrial arts the shop has been running smoothly and without any major injuries to report. I am passionate about building relationships and figuring out what makes people tick. With our dedicated group of advisors, I know this upcoming year will be great! I am ready to work, I want to learn, and I am going to have fun while I do it.
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Jason Neufeld |
Area of interest: Jason's educational interests centre on empowering youth to interpret the world around them and create meaningful social change. At Maples Met he works toward these larger goals by fostering an appreciation for the exchange of ideas through debate, text, and new media. He is currently working with a group of grade nines exploring politics through the following definition of / question about the term: Who gets what, when, where, why, and how?
His research and academic background have focused on the histories of Indigenous-settler relations, histories of social change, and global political economy. In his free time, Jason enjoys poking ant hills, playing in the dirt, and collecting interesting-looking sticks and rocks with his daughter. He also reads an embarrassing amount of mediocre science fiction, fancies himself a competent cook, gets way too worked up about the Jets, makes puns that elicit eye rolls from students and family members alike, and enjoys table-top gaming more than an adult probably should
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Caitlyn Garcia
| Grade 12 Advisor
Caitlyn is an enthusiastic lover of escape rooms, games, basketball, volleyball, and math. She is dedicated to helping students not only understand mathematical concepts but also discover how they apply to real-world scenarios. By breaking down the fear and anxiety many students associate with math, Caitlyn guides them toward a more positive and confident relationship with the subject. Her approach inspires curiosity and appreciation for math, empowering students to embrace challenges with assurance. Caitlyn believes in the beauty and uniqueness of each student's educational journey. She encourages students to embrace their individual paths, helping them find their voice and build confidence. Recognizing that it's easy to compare oneself to peers, Caitlyn emphasizes that every journey is distinct, with no single "right" path to success. Instead of fostering competition, she creates an environment where students celebrate their progress and acknowledge their contributions to one another's learning. Ultimately, Caitlyn aims to empower students to feel confident and prepared for life beyond high school, where they will continue to grow from their experiences and connections.
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Robyn Andrews
| Grade 12 Advisor
First off I love being a teacher advisor at Maples Met School. It brings me so much joy to be able to learn alongside such incredible and diverse young people. Our conversations always get me thinking about living a good life and helping my students explore what this means to them. So much of who we are comes from our growing up experiences and those around us. For me I was fortunate to grow up on a farm near Noble Lake so I learned to love the outdoors and had many adventures with my five siblings. Most days growing up were spent riding horses and quads, snowmobiling, swimming, playing sports, helping my dad in his shop and gardening with my grammy. I love being outdoors and my family spends most of our summers fishing, hiking, biking, playing beach volleyball and tennis. I am terrible at golf, other than mini golf but my dream is to get a hole in one as this is my son's favourite game.
Prior to becoming a teacher I worked for WestJet for 19.5 years before retiring so I had the privilege of traveling to many interesting places and have met many fascinating people. I love watching cooking shows and formula 1 as my son, Julian who is in grade 12, is obsessed. I also have an incredible daughter Aurora, who is studying at York University in Toronto. My youngest child Jay is in grade 9 and loves animals. Currently we have a dog, Scarlet and dwarf bunny Rocky, 2 panda hamsters and a budgie named Sky. Jay would have a whole house full of pets but I have to draw the line somewhere. He is an artist so I often get new stories and illustrations about the animals he wishes we could adopt. I have 5 nieces and 2 nephews who are my world. I fly to see one of them for a weekend at least once a month.
My mom is my hero and has won the hearts of community folks by running a drop in and food bank in Brandon. She is one of the greatest people I know. My dad is the person who lends a hand to everyone so we always have lots of extra people at my parent's place. I definitely won the birth lottery and I know how fortunate I am. I like to listen to the stories and experiences of others to see what their lives have been like. I look forward to meeting many new students and families this year as we work together to create a beautiful community for our students to learn and grow in.
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Janna Barkman
| Grade 12 Advisor
Bio Coming Soon! - On Leave
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David Zynoberg
| Internship Coordinator
I've always known my passion in life was with technology. I followed that passion through high school and into university, attaining my Bachelor of Science in computer Science from the University of Winnipeg. It wasn't until I was in the working world that I discovered that while technology was my passion, it was educating that was my calling!
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