Incoming teacher candidates are placed into cohorts that are led by a Field Advisor (FA). Your FA will mentor and support you throughout the 16-month program. FAs also assess and provide feedback to candidates and interns during their field experiences, and collaborate and support mentor teachers and school administrators.
Jennifer Laminger, Field Experience Coordinator
Jenny Laminger has been a teacher for more than 25 years, teaching grades 2-7. She has always been interested in the connection between numeracy and literacy and loves bringing the two together. Over the years, she has worked with teachers across the province in order to assist the development of their mathematics instruction. In 2013, she was part of the BC Ministry of Education’s curriculum development team for the new BC Mathematics Curriculum.
In 2019, she joined the OSE as a field advisor and in 2021 she started her role as field experience coordinator. As the coordinator, Jenny oversees the Field Experience Program and is the School’s representative in the school districts and regional communities.
In her free time, she loves to read, travel, and spend time with her family.
Carl Ruest, Field Experience Coordinator, French
Carl Ruest has enjoyed his career as an educator in both university and public school contexts. Before joining the Okanagan School of Education, Carl worked at UBC-V where he taught in the B.Ed., as well as in the M.Ed. in French Education. He was also a teacher and a coordinator of the French Immersion program in a Richmond secondary school. Carl is interested in intercultural education and in the learning of French as a second language in authentic contexts using innovative practices. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. which explores adolescents’ development of intercultural competence during interprovincial exchanges. His research highlights the importance helping students make sense of their varied experiences while they live and study in a second language.
Besides his passion for education, Carl loves swimming, cross-country skiing, traveling and visiting his family in Mont-Joli, Québec.
Lynne Gibson, Field Advisor
Lynne Gibson has just returned from some international experiences where she was the head of school in the Dominican Republic and previously in South Korea. She has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and head of school for over 30 years. She has also been involved with accreditation reviews for a variety of institutions over the past few years. Lynne has four grown children and nine grandchildren whom she is immensely proud of.
Lynne’s passion in education revolves around ensuring all learners are engaged participants in their own learning, using their interests and curiosities to drive that learning. She believes the recent pandemic offers an opportunity for education to look different for our students … something educators have been working on for years. It is an exciting time to be an educator. She is very excited to be part of the OSE team and looks forward to the opportunity to serve future educators.
Kyle Hamilton, Field Advisor
Kyle Hamilton is a passionate educator having taught at the middle, secondary and post-secondary levels. He values complex teaching and learning environments that seek to initiate “complicated conversations” (Pinar, 2011) at the confluence of the “lived” and “planned” curriculum (Aoki, 1986/1991)—grappling with human well-being, agency, diverse knowledges, reflection, subjective reconstruction and democratization. His masters’ work explored the philosophy of cosmopolitanism in relation to K-12 settings and his PhD work focuses on foregrounding K-12 classrooms and schools as sites for developing more democratic and more just societies. Hamilton has served in several roles at the Okanagan School of Education including as a faculty advisor, intern observer and intern advisor. He has also served as a SD23 district human rights committee member, Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association (COTA) social justice chairperson, Social Studies department head. He loves mountain biking, hockey, soccer and travel.
Amber Hartwell, Field Advisor
Amber Hartwell has teaching experience in both the K-12 British Columbia and Alberta school system, and has experience as a research assistant, teaching assistant, and sessional instructor in post-secondary. In her various roles, she has been responsible for the transformation of libraries to library learning commons and coordinated Indigenous education opportunities including elder classroom visits, land-based learning opportunities, and nsyilxcən language lessons. In 2019, Amber was nominated for the Prime Minister’s Award in STEM education. Amber is currently completing her Doctor of Education through the University of Calgary.
Murray Sasges, Field Advisor
Murray Sasges was born and raised in Vernon B.C. along with nine siblings. He owned and operated a Gravel Quarry before taking up teaching at the age of 40. His second year of teaching was at an international school in Shenzhen, China. Always having a keen interest in community engagement he brought this passion to his teaching. He co-created a 5-month full-time Global Ed program for grade 11’s based on sustainability and social justice issues which included a 3-week field study in Nicaragua. More recently he co-founded with Kim Ondrik an innovative school within School District #22 called the Academy of Inquiry and Adventure Okanagan (aiao.ca) which is grounded in the new B.C. curriculum and the core competencies from grades 7-12.
He loves to fix up old bicycles and is currently restoring an old farm to honor its productive and cultural heritage.