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Central Alberta author writes about teaching future heroes

Sandy Bexon contributed a story for latest Chicken Soup for the Soul book
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A memorable meeting with a “non-traditional” teacher inspired Central Alberta writer Sandy Bexon to pen an story for the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Inspiration for Teachers: 101 Stories About How You Make a Difference contains Bexon’s short story, Teaching Future Heroes. It sprang from an interview Bexon did near Innisfail some years ago.

The author recounts being introduced to a teacher “who had won many awards and citations.” She pulls the reader along, describing the teacher’s obvious devotion and affection for his young charges, whom he’s counting on to become heroes one day.

About halfway through the story, readers discover Bexon’s actually writing about the RCMP police dog training facility. But “this place is the same as any school,” the teacher/trainer observes, with all instructors tasked with identifying skills and pathways that will lead to the most success for each student.”

Bexon, a former journalist, feels “It’s a big honour to be included” in the successful Chicken Soup series. As a communications officer for the Chinook’s Edge School district, she has a special interest in education, students — and in writing.

Teaching Future Heroes is Bexon’s second story for Chicken Soul for the Soul, following one she wrote in 2016 about her mother’s battle with breast cancer. Before her mom died of the disease in 1999, Bexon encouraged her to write therapeutically about her experiences in a journal, feeling the process of putting words to paper helps writers gain insight into themselves and the world.

Bexon has wordsmith-ing ever since entering her first writing contest at age 11. She self-published her first novel, Moving Mountains under her maiden name, Sandy Kelly, in 2013, and is “plugging away” on her second novel, Secrets from Bob Garage.

The Chicken Soup for the Soul’s, Inspiration for Teachers book is available at any Chapters or Coles store, or online.

lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com