2009-2010 SJK Annual Report - St. John's-Kilmarnock School

A Fond
Farewell
to Coach
Dief
Not a day goes by that Cheryl Diefenbacher doesn’t cast her thoughts back
inside the gates of SJK and reflect on the role of the school in her life. Cheryl
devoted twenty-three years to St. John’s-Kilmarnock School and watched her
son Brent progress through the school and graduate, touched by the magical
influence of the school’s teachers.
Cheryl started as a part-time physical education teacher at the Elora location of
the school following a maternity leave. Cheryl remembers teaching physical
education gymless, running her female students along the natural trails of the
Elora Gorge and skating at the local arena.
Cheryl served many key roles in her SJK career. She was SJK’s first Director of
Admissions in 1990 and later assisted the Upper School Director as Grade 9
&10 coordinator before becoming Head of Physical Education, bringing the
opportunity to program wellness for the students, JK through grade 12. Later,
she served two years as Middle School Director. Over the past four years, she
guided our students toward post-secondary success as SJK’s Head of Guidance.
By her estimation, Dief has coached some fifty sports teams in at least six
sports. She led thirteen LiveFit classes, introducing the course to the school.
Mrs. Dief is quick to identify the defining quality of SJK: its close student-teacher
relationships which foster the unique family community that is so evident at the
school. Dief praised SJK’s administration over the years for embracing the total
wellness of its students, both within and outside of the classroom. “SJK is
instrumental in developing the whole child and that makes a great platform for
student growth.”
Mrs. Dief is very grateful for the opportunities she had to walk among mentors –
‘giants’, she calls them. She is thankful for her opportunity to walk with giants,
watch the giants, and be lifted on the shoulders of giants. In turn, Mrs. Dief did
lots of motivational lifting herself. “It was the healthy relationships and watching
kids grow and watching them grow into young healthy happy adults that
energized me to get into their heads and hearts and watch them reach their
academic potential in a great setting. My legacy is the relationships I have left
behind. What I really loved about SJK was my ability to stay internal and to place
myself in a position to always look for challenge; to always be in a position to
learn and learn and learn. That’s what energized me about SJK.” After 23 years at
SJK, Cheryl Diefenbacher has taken on a new challenge as Director of Student
Services at Hillfield-Strathallan College in Hamilton.