A group of local teachers hopes Albertans will chip in to fund a Paul Kane scholarship that honours a champion of women in science. Former St.
A group of local teachers hopes Albertans will chip in to fund a Paul Kane scholarship that honours a champion of women in science.
Former St. Albert resident Chris Brauer spoke to the Gazette this month about the Shirley Brauer Award for Women in Science – a new scholarship at Paul Kane dedicated to the memory of a long-serving chemistry teacher at that school.
Brauer died of lymphoma in July 2015, said Chris, her son. Before then, she served as a chemistry teacher at Edmonton area schools for many years, and at Paul Kane from about 1984 to 2005.
Brauer was a highly respected teacher who served on Alberta Education committees and received a provincial Excellence in Teaching Award, said Ross Tyson, executive director of Athabasca University's graduate student foundation and one of the organizers of the Brauer scholarship.
“You couldn't stump Shirley,” he said, as she knew the curriculum top to bottom and had a knack for making it fun and easy to understand.
“You knew you were being taught by the best.”
Tyson credits Brauer with helping hockey star Jarome Iginla finish high school, as she tutored him after hours.
“That's just the way she was.”
Tyson said the idea for the scholarship came out of a meeting between himself and a number of family friends at the University of Alberta's faculty club. They started fundraising for it six months ago through the Edmonton Community Foundation, and recently got enough cash to start giving out awards.
The award will go to a Grade 12 student at Paul Kane who demonstrates courage, ingenuity, determination, compassion and the synthesis of ideas in scientific studies – all traits Brauer embodied, Tyson said. It will initially be worth $400, but will rise to $1,000 if the fund gets to $25,000.
The scholarship is meant to continue Brauer's legacy at the school and to encourage more women to get into the sciences, Tyson said.
Possessed of a “renaissance spirit,” Brauer was a scientist at heart but had a strong artistic side as well, Chris said. Growing up in St. Albert, he recalled how Brauer would take him down to the botanic park and talk about not just the beauty of the flowers there but also the microscopic details of their cells and the process of pollination.
“Mom was a very strong woman. She wasn't a classic feminist, but she really advocated for empowering people.”
Retired Paul Kane teacher Don Chetek described Brauer as a mild-mannered and soft-spoken women known for her use of lively science demos, which often involved flames of magnesium and sodium-and-water explosions.
“She definitely liked to blow up things for chemistry.”
St. Albert Public board chair Glenys Edwards said in an email that she taught alongside Brauer for about eight years at Paul Kane, and lived with her as a young girl (Brauer rented a room in her parents' house).
“I have many fond memories of her back then as a cheerful, energetic student. She was a lifelong learner, and this scholarship is an excellent way to honour her memory because she always encouraged a thirst for knowledge in her students.”
Paul Kane teacher Michael Ng said Brauer was a major inspiration for his passion for chemistry, and noted that he actually took over her old job when she retired.
“What I will remember most is her smiling to us,” he said in an email.
“There was never a day she didn't smile. She always believed in her students to achieve great things.”
The first Brauer scholarship will be awarded this fall, Tyson said.
Details on the scholarship can be found at www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/shirley-brauer-award-for-women-in-science/
