The man who helped establish the innovative Building Futures program in the Rocky View School Division (RVS) will be the next Principal of Meadowbrook Middle School in Airdrie.  

School Superintendent Greg Luterbach named Greg Rankin as the school's new Principal, effective in August, earlier this week.  In making the announcement Luterbach said, "Many will attest to Greg's strength as an innovative leader and his capacity to ensure all stakeholders feel respected and cared for."

Rankin is currently the Assistant Principal at Springbank Community High School and has been with Rocky View since 2010.  He started at George McDougall High School as a teacher.  Rankin's innovative nature led he and another teacher to establish the first of two Building Futures programs, an off-campus program where students build houses while earning credits.

Rankin says he and co-creator Jarett Hooper felt that sometimes school didn't work for all kids.  "The reason for that was they couldn't always see what they were learning in the classroom and how that actually related to real life.  We figured if we could get them to do something like building a house where you needed to get, we always said 100 percent of the drywall up is a pass and if you only have 70 percent up, it's not done yet.  We really took that philosophy."

But Rankin and Hooper also felt it was important that every student got a great education.  Rankin explains, "While they were building the house we really focused on quite a rigorous curriculum inside the english class and the social class and the math class as they were going."

With the Building Futures program and with all education, Rankin believes learning has to be engaging and real.  "If a traditional school system works for a kid, great, but I also think it's not just a learner that's struggling that can thrive in something like Building Futures>  It's really for any kid."

In 2014 Rankin moved into the role of Assistant Principal at George McDougall and in 2015 joined the leadership team at Springbank High in his current position.

Rankin says once he gets to Meadowbrook he's looking forward to meeting the students and staff.  He also wants to continue to focus on what's making the school successful. 

"They have a really big focus on literacy and numeracy because that's proven to help kids get to where they want to go and be successful.  I also want to continue and build upon the Experiential Learning Week that they have where parents and community members come in and teach the kids for a week...  I think my ties to Building Futures might help me support that program as well."  

Rankin holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Calgary, a Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.  In 2015 he also completed RVS' Administrative Leadership Program.  

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com