Bill Belsey

Hi, my name is Jessie. My hero is Bill Belsey from Calgary, Alberta in Canada. He has a wife, a son, a daughter and a dog. He is a teacher and he knows a lot about bullying and technology.

Bill Belsey is my hero because he helps people all around the world deal with bullying. He created a Web site called www.bullying.org to help people if they are being bullied. He created a project called Operation H.O.P.E., Helping Other People Everywhere (http://www.iearn-canada.org/hope.html), to help tsunami victims. He also teaches my class in Calgary, Alberta. He does many things no other teacher has done before. He also made a class Web site for his class and it is called www.coolclass.ca.

During Bill Belsey’s career, he has accomplished many goals, and here are some of them: he graduated with a B.A. and B.Ed. from the Concurrent Teacher Education Program, Queen's University, with additional Ministry of Education courses. He taught English as a Second Language. He brought the first computer into any Canadian Arctic school in 1983 at Qitiqliq School in Arviat. He created the very first telecommunications exchange using computers (300 baud) modems between schools in Nunavut, between Arviat and Rankin Inlet in 1984. He led numerous computer workshops for teachers and community partners throughout his sixteen-year teaching career. Mr. Belsey is responsible for the Leo Ussak Elementary School Web site, which was the very first Web site for any school in Canada's North and has won numerous awards and media coverage from around the world! He was responsible for raising over $100,000 for the computer program at Leo Ussak School through the "Partners in Education" campaign. He got donations of money, used computers, and services from government and the business community. He was primarily responsible for establishing Igalaaq, the Rankin Inlet Community Access Centre, where any citizen of Rankin Inlet can have access to the Internet and current computer technology in the evenings and weekends in the computer room of Leo Ussak Elementary School. This was initiated after successfully competing for funding under Industry Canada's "Community Access Project" program. As a result, Rankin Inlet will be first Community Access Centre in the Northwest Territories. On Sunday November 2nd, 1997 Igalaaq celebrated its first anniversary.

Bill lead staff training and professional development sessions for not only Leo Ussak, Maani Ulujuk (the high School in Rankin Inlet) and Whale Cove (a school in a neighbouring settlement) school staffs, but also for 30 GNWT employees from the Department of Personnel. He initiated a series of "Internet Cafes" where any member of the community could attend and learn about the potential benefits of the Internet. Over 120 people from the community attended these cafes. He was responsible for helping over 20% of the citizens of Rankin Inlet acquire their first e-mail accounts through the NWT's very successful Northof60 Bulletin Board System. He was responsible, too, for three of Leo Ussak Schools grade five students giving a presentation to over two dozen CEOs and business leaders during a Keewatin Chamber of Commerce AGM and first ever Nunavut Mining Symposium, which brought together mining companies and regional interests from across North America. He has successfully organized and lead many CU-See Me video conferences with schools as far away as Australia.

Mr. Belsey is a recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in Science, Technology and Math. Bill works at Springbank Middle School and that is why Bill is my hero.

Bill is also my teacher and I am very glad he is. He is a normal person just like you and me. He has a wife, a son, a daughter and a dog. He does not try to get fame, he just wants to help.