Written by: Claire B.
Earlier in 2025, KCI welcomed Ms. Martin as our new principal. The Edge sat down with her to find out more about her plans for KCI.
Here are the highlights from the conversation:
Q: Tell me a bit about yourself. Is there anything you'd like students to know about you?
Ms. Martin: I think what I most want students to know is how much I truly love learning. Personally, I have a passion for learning and I'm very excited to see the students at KCI learn. It brings me great joy. And whatever I can do to support students in their learning and teachers in their learning – because we are all part of one learning community – I will work tirelessly to make that happen. It’s a privilege to be able to learn together.
Q: What has been your first impression of KCI?
Ms. Martin: KCI is a vibrant school and very dynamic. There are lots of activities that happen here at school. And I've been so impressed seeing students in action both inside the classroom and outside the classroom. It’s just been a joy to see everyone in motion. I love the energy of this building and the community, this sense of one KCI where students from different grades are part of clubs together or form friendships and teachers form connections with each other across the school. So I think it's a very connected community that is truly special and something I want to be a part of.
Q: Have there been any surprises since you arrived here?
Ms. Martin: I think the one thing that surprises me would be the number of activities that happen here at the school –through leadership, through clubs, through sports, through arts. The level of activity in this building is really surprising, and heart-warming and energizing for me too.
Q: What are your goals or priorities for this first year at the school?
Ms. Martin: One of the first things I want to do is get to know the students and the staff here to understand how I can best serve our school community. Our school goals over the last year or two have focussed on literacy and numeracy and achievement for students. And so I want to build on the good work that has happened and to move that forward and also to look at equity issues within our school so that we have a school environment that is inclusive where everyone feels like they belong. And get into the really good work that has previously happened to help the school continue to move forward in positive ways.
Q: What inspired you to become a principal?
Ms. Martin: For me it was a journey. I didn't start my teaching career thinking I would be a principal. I started in the classroom where I loved to teach. And then that sort of evolved into becoming a guidance counselor and working with students one on one and getting a sense of the whole school through my experiences in guidance. And that led me into administration, looking for new challenges and experiences and new opportunities to support people. And then, after becoming vice principal, with lots of encouragement from other people and from a desire of mine, I moved into the principal role and really enjoyed the work.
Q: What were you like as a high schooler? What did you take part in at your school?
Ms. Martin: I loved high school. I was involved in student leadership as a student. I liked to play sports too. I was never the best one on the team, but I was all heart and loved to be a part of the team. I was involved in music as well – vocal music and instrumental music. And social justice club. So I tried to take advantage of all of the different things that my school offered.
Q: Do you have any words of wisdom for high school students?
Ms. Martin: To be curious and to always love learning. So, it doesn't matter how old we are or where we find ourselves in life, learning is really important to us as human beings – finding opportunities to grow and to learn. And I think, related to that, would be the importance of connection to others. Because we learn from each other and we form relationships with each other. From some reading I've been doing and from my own learning it seems like that can be a challenge for young people sometimes – being connected in person-to-person conversations, because there's temptations to be in the digital world. So, I would just really encourage students to make time to build relationships and be connected to one another.