Jen Eckford
Jen Eckford was born in Meaford, Ontario, and lived there to the age of 6. After that, she moved with her family way up north, to Inuvik in the North West Territories, where she lived to the age of 12. Then the family moved south once more, settling in Didsbury, Alberta, where Jen’s parents live to this day. After graduating from high school Jen enrolled at the University of Calgary and graduated from the Faculty of Education in 1996, when a teaching job was hard to find. Her dad said, “You’ve lived up north before, why not apply anywhere you can to get a job where you can use your teaching degree.” Jen thought that was good advice, and was the successful applicant for a teaching position on a Dene Reserve in Assumption, five hours north of Grand Prairie. After working there for three years, Jen moved to High Level, and was a stay at home mom. Jen and family came to Fort McMurray in 2004. Unlike 1995, when teaching jobs were hard to find, ten years later Fort McMurray was bursting at the seams with an exploding population of school-aged kids. In 2005, when Jen applied to be a teacher on call with FMPSD, she only subbed for a couple of weeks before people realized what a great teacher she was and she was snapped up to teach full time at
École Dickinsfield. Jen has been at the school ever since. Jen has three children, all boys: Kian,11; Jacob, 13; and Aiden, 15. Jen says when she is not working she likes to read, go out for both walks and runs, and raise her boys. Congratulations on your 10 years with the school district, Jen!