Exceptional teacher, coach, retires

Nearly all the best and most precious things in the universe may be purchased. All but an exceptional teacher, that is.

This month, Caledon East's Cheyenne Ashukian will end his 30-year teaching career, and the halls and fields of Turner Fenton Secondary School will feel emptier without him.

Ashukian's life and career took him rapidly from a small village in Turkey to St. Catharines, Ontario, on to university in Thunder Bay, a teaching start in Hearst, Ontario and finally in the early 1980s, to Peel. Here, apart from a brief engagement at Bramalea S.S., he has been a consistent positive force at the largest and most diverse school in Peel, teaching and coaching through the years in all of the variants of W.J. Fenton, J. A. Turner, Turner Fenton Campus and Turner Fenton Secondary School.

An outstanding athlete in his own right, he assumed that it was part of the real and vital life of a teacher to involve all students in physical effort and team play. He was driven by an irresistible conviction in the goodness of people, especially young people, and in the civic value of a civil school.

Ashukian contributed to the creation of this civil school by coaching three activities - cross-country, wrestling and soccer - three seasons a year, for 30 years. Typically his cross-country team would attract 100 runners, all drawn by this magnet of irresistible conviction. Coach Ashukian understood that community and identity were the cloth of success.

On a broader community scale, Ashukian has coached soccer for many years with both the Caledon and Bolton clubs. He started with an U19 Boys team in the early 1990s and then put together the first girls' rep team for Caledon. He coached them from U13 to U19, at which point the team dispersed for university. After one summer off in 2005, coach Ashukian was invited to return in 2006 to coaching the U19 Boys team for Bolton, and he enjoyed a successful season with them.

Ashukian has also been involved with sport administration, not only for the district of Peel but also for many events at the provincial level. In 1992 and 1998, for example, he was a major organizer of the provincial cross-country championships held at Heart Lake Conservation Area. Also in 1998, he brought the provincial wrestling finals to the Brampton Fairgrounds, and then again in 2004 hosted OFSAA Wrestling at the Powerade Centre on Kennedy Road.

Over the years, Cheyenne Ashukian has been honoured with many awards. During high school he participated at a high level in soccer, wrestling and track and field, and was zone champion in cross country running. At Lakehead University he again played soccer, but his greatest accomplishments were on the wrestling mat. Between 1973 and 1977 he captured five consecutive titles at the Great Plains Athletic Conference and he was the CIAU national wrestling champion in 1974 and 1976.

Despite his significant athletic achievements, Ashukian is most proud of the awards he has won for community service, from the Rotary Club Award earned in 1974 for "Service Above Self" to the Pete Beach Award, granted by OFSAA in 2001, to "a rare educator … who best typifies the true function of the teacher-coach - a source of discipline, a mentor and a friend."

In the soft glow of retrospection it is easy to create what never was, but in the case of Ashukian, the truth is more fascinating than any fairy tale.

As one of his former student athletes, Brandon Aldridge, said; "Mr. Ashukian was a wizard with human nature. A magician! To us he delivered passion, energy and belief. He was the catalyst for motivation, growth and glory. To hundreds, over three decades, he has been the indispensable part of the show."

A retirement function for Ashukian will be held at Turner Fenton Secondary School Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. For more, call 905-453- 9220.