Vice Principal

School District 64: Gulf Islands

Canada:  British Columbia | North America

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein

Stacy Mitchell wears many hats—mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, teacher, coach, learner, and educational leader. These days, she serves as Vice Principal at Gulf Islands Secondary School on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, but at her core she is simply someone who believes deeply in the potential of young people.

Throughout her career, Stacy has been guided by a simple truth: every child arrives with gifts, strengths, and wisdom worth discovering. Her work is about creating the conditions where those gifts can emerge, grow, and make a difference in the world.

With a background in science, educational leadership, and community sport, Stacy has spent the last several years exploring what happens when learning moves beyond the four walls of a classroom. She is passionate about helping young people connect to themselves, to each other, to their communities, and to the land beneath their feet. Guided by the principle of Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk), she brings together Indigenous and Western ways of knowing, believing that we learn best when spirit, heart, body, and mind are all invited to the table.

Some of her favourite teaching moments don’t happen at desks. They happen when students sit quietly in a meadow, notice a plant they’ve never paid attention to before, ask thoughtful questions, or discover that learning can feel more like wonder than work. Stacy often talks about children bringing the heartbeat back to the land. Their curiosity, joy, and sense of possibility remind us that we belong to something much larger than ourselves.

As a practitioner of Compassionate Systems Leadership, Stacy believes that caring is not soft, it is one of the most powerful forces for change. In a world that often feels increasingly complex and disconnected, she sees compassion, empathy, and relationships as essential leadership skills. After all, humans evolved in community, not isolation.

Whether she is coaching rowers on a foggy morning, teaching anatomy through Two-Eyed Seeing, supporting educators, or working alongside community partners, Stacy approaches leadership with curiosity, humility, and hope. She believes leadership is less about having all the answers and more about creating the conditions for others to contribute, grow, and lead. Her work is grounded in the belief that healthy students create healthy schools, healthy schools strengthen communities, and healthy communities build a better future. She is continually inspired by young people and remains convinced that when we invest in belonging, connection, and compassion, extraordinary things can happen.

When she is not at school, you can often find her on the water coaching rowing, exploring the forests, hiking a mountain with her dog Nemo, or learning something new herself because the best educators never stop being learners.

At the end of the day, Stacy’s hope is simple: that every young person feels seen, valued, connected, and inspired to use their gifts in service of something larger than themselves.