User:Krulka/sandbox

Constance Rulka BArts, BEd, M.A. (Hons) ( Born January 8th, 1926) is a teacher, author, academic and pioneer in the field of education. She was a founding member of the West African Examinations Council a longtime teacher and school trustee in the Howe Sound School District and has received the Distinguished Achievment award for Excellence in Educational Journalism from the Association of Educational Publishers (Formerly known as the Educational Press Accociation of America). In 2003 she was awarded the ''Golden Leaf Award" -in Writing and Editing for educational issues reporting from the Canadian Press Association.

==Educational Background British by birth (a coalminer’s daughter), and a Canadian Citizen by naturalization, Constance was educated in Yorkshire, England followed by an M.A. (Hons.) degree in both English and French with subsidiary Latin from St. Andrews University in Scotland. (1947). Upon graduation she was awarded a Penfield Fellowship to do post-graduate work in American Literature at New York University (1947-1948). Returning to Scotland, she then took her Diploma in Education at the University of St. Andrews (1948-1949) and became a qualified teacher. Her first teaching post was Buckhaven High School, in Fife, Scotland (1949). Then she went out to Adisadel College in Ghana (then the Gold Coast), as the English teacher, and, from 1953 onwards was also the Examiner in English for the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Matriculation Board. She would go on to become Chief Examiner, and, appointed Assistant Registrarthe West African Examinations Council, and put in charge of examinations in English at all levels in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. In 1956, she took time out to return to the University of London to take an external B.A. (Hons.) degree in Pure English (Anglo Saxon, Middle English etc.). Each summer she seconded to Moray House at the University of Edinburgh to work with the team in charge of the 11+ examinations for Britain; Together they discussed and developed the latest techniques in objective-testing and machine-marking, which she was introducing into West Africa, to replace the previously England-centered examinations. She travelled widely throughout West Africa, visiting schools, to explain to teachers how the current curricula could be adapted to new testing methods. This is interpreted by some to be pioneering the Multiple Choice Examination and the use of computers to mark such tests. In 1975 she received her Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Alberta

Careers in Education
In 1959, she came to Canada. By that time, she had already begun writing textbooks on English Language and Poetry for the Macmillan Publishing Company of England, having 13 books published. Her first teaching post in Canada was in Athabasca, Alberta, and after obtaining her Bachelor of Education degree (with merit), in French History from the University of Alberta. She taught in several small towns in Alberta with her last post in Innisfail High School where she became a Department Head in Language Arts. In 1973 – moving to British Columbia, she obtained her British Columbia Professional Teaching Certificate. She taught English and French at Howe Sound Secondary School in Squamish and was Department Head for 17 years. At the same time, she worked in the BC Teachers’ Federation, delivering in-service, province wide, in English instruction. Faced with enforced retirement in January of 1992 at the young age of 65, she decided to run for office as a school board trustee.

Constance has always been a strong advocate for school libraries:

Even after “retiring” in 1990 she served as Trustee after having passed on the chairmanship. The year 1991 saw Constance elected to the Board of School Trustees, School District # 48 (Howe Sound) by the largest majority of votes ever recorded. She wrote a regular weekly column entitled “Sound Schools” for the Chief newspaper in Squamish as well as several articles for Teacher Newsmagazine.

She also taught courses including English Literature and Women in History at Squamish’s Eldercollege at Capilano College and at the Squamish Public Library.

Community Service
Constance Rulka has served on the Squamish General Hospital Board of Directors (as both chair and vice-chair), the Child and Youth Committee, and the Healthy Communities Committee, which she was instrumental in forming. She has also been involved in the joint Committee for the Private University in Squamish. She has been invited numerous times to deliver inspirational speeches to the Howe Sound Graduation Classes, both while serving as a teacher at Howe Sound and after her retirement. She has been a valued contributor to the BCSTA Education Committee and the BCSTA Legislative Committee along with the Squamish Chief.

Awards and recognition
In 1992 she received the “Distinguished Achievement Award” from the Association of Educational Publishers (Formerly known as the Educational Press Accociation of America) given for excellence in Educational Journalism. In 2003, she recieved the Golden Leaf Award- in Writing and Editing and "Educational Issues Reporting" from the Canadian Educational Press Association and the British Columbia Teacher Federation.

in 2004 She received the Order of Squamish. (needs citation)

On June 13, 2006, School District No. 48 honored Constance Rulka’s contributions and renamed the Howe Sound Secondary School Library “The Constance Rulka Library” In 2011 a second library was named in her honour at the Squamish Renaissance retirement residence.

Personal life
Constance has one son Dr. Stuart K. Rulka, his wife Marilyn and 2 granddaughters, Nicole Marie Rulka who resides in Port Melbourne, Australia and Kirstie Michelle Armstrong (nee Rulka) currently residing in Dubai, The United Arab Emirates.