New U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss says year in B.C. ‘changed my outlook on life’

The UK has a brand new prime minister, and it seems she has a number of roots in British Columbia.

Liz Truss was formally sworn in because the U.Okay.’s new prime minister after assembly with Queen Elizabeth Tuesday, following her victory within the Conservative Occasion management race to interchange Boris Johnson.

However many years earlier than she took a seat on the head of the cupboard desk, Truss spent a yr in Burnaby, B.C., whereas her father, a mathematician, labored at Simon Fraser College.

In 2018, Truss posted on Instagram of her Grade 7 class at Parkcrest Elementary Faculty, saying the expertise “modified her outlook on life.”

She has recognized herself within the picture because the lady sporting the “pink jumper” with a “large fringe.”

Brenda Montagano, now a Grade 4 to 7 instructor herself at Parkcrest, was one of many different kids within the picture.

“We keep in mind her sort of coy, witty sense of humour — she would inform a joke and have sort of this half-smile, and slot in with us as a result of we had been very comparable at that age, that sort of sarcastic humour,” she instructed World Information.

“I’ve stated with my grownup hat on and having taught now for 25 years, I can recognize how exhausting it’s to maneuver not simply to a brand new college however to a brand new nation … It felt like she was right here for greater than a yr, so I believe that speaks so much to how she shortly settled in and obtained together with all people.”

Invoice Chambers, who taught the category and is now retired, instructed World Information he was shocked when a reporter reached out to ask him if he remembered instructing somebody “in British politics.”

“I Googled her and considering, properly, I ponder what she does — and naturally the headline comes up, ‘to be named the brand new prime minister of Britain,’ properly, I nearly fell over. I imply, it was so humorous,” he stated.

Chambers, who taught for greater than 20 years, stated he doesn’t keep in mind Truss personally, however that he vividly remembers her class as one which “gelled” and nonetheless stands out in his instructing profession.

“It in all probability was an ideal one for her to drop into at 12 years previous, you already know. I imply, it’s good that it made such an influence on her. It’s sort of cool, it type of validates what I used to be doing for years and years and years,” he stated.

He stated he hopes to in the future attain out to the brand new PM and say “thanks for the type phrases.”

Again at Parkcrest, Montagano stated she plans to make use of Truss’ story and sophistication picture as a instructing device to encourage her college students.

“And discuss targets and desires and that there isn’t any restrict, and likewise that you don’t have any concept the place you phrases and actions will go and what shall be remembered by individuals,” she stated.

“I take into consideration her Instagram submit about life altering and among the hashtags that she wrote that made me take into consideration what precisely, who it was that stated one thing, or what expertise it was and the way various things stick to individuals.”

Truss, 47, takes energy as her nation of 67 million grapples with an acute cost-of-living disaster, pressure on the health-care system and the continued results of Brexit.

— with recordsdata from Grace Ke