Said El Mejdani

Said El Mejdani

Age: 49

Said El-Mejdani is one of the most innovative teachers in the Wood Buffalo region for promoting the growth of education in computer science.

Mejdani is a Computer Science Teacher at Westwood Community High School with the Fort McMurray Public School District and volunteers in the community by promoting coding and innovation through Community Code Day and Launch Wood Buffalo. Both programs are coordinated with BrainSTEM Alliance and the Wood Buffalo Regional Innovation Network and Youth Computing.

His extensive resume highlights a BSc. Math from Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, Morocco, a B.Ed from L’Ecole Normale Supérieure in Rabat, Morocco, a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec. He has also completed four years of research as a Ph.D. candidate on Imagery and Numeric Media Science from the University of Sherbrooke.

Said is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Teaching 2019 and recently  his work was featured by the University Of Kansas in a book called: An Education Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How Radical Changes Can Spark Student Excitement and Success.

This book features world wide cutting-edge innovations that took place in a broad range of schools—public and private, elementary to high school. This book shows how educators in ordinary situations can take extraordinary actions toward a new paradigm of education in which all students can flourish.

“As a life-long learner, I believe that students grow with challenges, problem-solving and product-based learning,” said the father of three children. “It’s one of my great passions in life to see kids grow and learn, and help them find their way to success.”

In June 2019, El-Mejdani accompanied three Westwood High School students in the Inventure$ 2019 Student Pitch Competition in Calgary, Alberta.

The Alberta Government program provides student entrepreneurs with exposure and resources for their business ideas. The three 15-year-olds competing were in the top six finalists.

Mejdani shared he honours the advice he received from his former educator, Mike Kane from Make School in San Francisco, and puts it into his teachings.

“In computer science, if you teach the same thing the same way two years in a row, you are doing it wrong,” he said.