Three Wainwright High School teachers are being celebrated nationally this month for the way they teach science, technology, engineering and math.
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Katherine Campbell, Jessica Oracheski and Kara Waddell, all with Buffalo Trail Public Schools, have received 2026 Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence Certificates of Achievement, according to a release from the school division. The national award recognizes teamwork, creativity and a genuine commitment to student learning, and this year’s honour goes to the trio as a unit rather than to any one teacher individually.
Campbell, Oracheski and Waddell work together as a STEM team at the high school, collaborating on lesson planning, projects and assessments. Over time, that partnership has grown into a program designed to challenge students academically while keeping them feeling included, motivated and genuinely engaged in the classroom.
Their teaching doesn’t stay confined to four walls. The three have built partnerships with organizations including Canadian Blood Services, CFB Wainwright and the Wainwright Wildlife Society, giving students hands-on learning opportunities tied directly to their coursework.
Students in their classes also get exposure to real-world science through youth summits such as Navigate, Generate and Cultivate, which dig into topics ranging from water and energy to climate and agriculture — subjects that carry extra weight in a region built on farming and oil and gas.
Inside the classroom, the team leans on interactive technology to help students visualize complex scientific ideas, using digital tools including Blooket, Quizlet, Gimkit and Wayground to make practice and assessment feel less like a chore. They’ve also worked to make learning more accessible by adjusting timelines and layering tasks for students who need a different pace.
The trio’s influence reaches beyond their own classrooms, too. All three have served as Optimal Learning Coaches, mentoring fellow teachers on classroom practices and student learning strategies across the division.
Campbell was also selected for the EinsteinPlus program, an intensive workshop on modern physics offered to Canadian and international teachers. All three have continued building their craft through conferences including the National Science Teaching Association Conference, the Response to Intervention Conference and the Alberta Teachers’ Association Science Council Conference.
The recognition comes at a notable moment for education in the Wainwright area, where the province has been investing in school infrastructure, including a new Wainwright school and new modular classrooms added to handle growth in the region. It also follows a tradition of recognizing local teachers and staff for the work they put in well beyond the school day.
For a school division the size of Buffalo Trail, having three teachers from the same building honoured together on a national stage is a point of pride that reaches well past the staff room — and a reminder of the kind of teaching happening in classrooms across the region, often without much fanfare.
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