After nine years at Rainbow Creek Elementary School Principal, Dawn Rife is retiring.
As Principal of Rainbow Creek Elementary School, Rife’s ultimate goal was to create an inclusive learning environment where all learners felt safe and were able to reach their full potential.
“I do believe that I was able to lead the school in a positive direction toward the goal, but it is not a goal that has a finite end. It will be one that they will continue to strive for, and I am sure with the diligence and dedication of the staff I am leaving behind, they will do so,” Rife said.
Throughout her time at Rainbow Creek Elementary School, Rife was responsible for ensuring the school maintained a safe and nurturing learning community.
“In this capacity, and along with my assistant principal, I was responsible for supervising our staff and working with children,” Rife said.
However, navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges and changes to Rife’s everyday responsibilities.
“Ending the 2019-20 school year with the staff and students participating in at-home learning left the school eerily empty. I was happy, but apprehensive when the government announced that schools would reopen in the fall of 2020. Our start-up time was spent learning protocols that would keep us all safe, but both our staff and students proved to be incredibly resilient, and we have had a fun year of learning despite it all,” Rife said.
Adding, “Any challenge I met paled in comparison to leading the school this past year. As one of my colleagues said, ‘There is no course in university that teaches you how to be a principal during a global pandemic.”
Despite the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brought, watching the music program grow and flourish, hosting multiple student teachers and watching some of them become Rocky View Schools (RVS) and Rainbow Creek employees, and working with caring compassionate staff who pitched in daily to support each other was highlights for Rife throughout the years.
“Of course, the thing I will miss the most is the students. I will miss this school community with my whole heart. Rainbow Creek will always be a special place for me,” Rife said.
