Leadership doesn’t just happen in Canyons District classrooms. It’s found in every department of the District, where employees regularly step into roles that shape education throughout Utah.
The latest example is Brandon Wolf, Canyons District’s Energy Team Lead, who was recently selected as the new Executive Director of the Utah School Employees Association (USEA), a statewide organization representing 3,000 education support professionals.
For Wolf, the appointment is the culmination of two decades of serving schools — first as a high school sweeper and later as a facilities professional dedicated to maintaining safe and welcoming learning environments for students.
“I stuck around because I enjoyed the people I was working with,” Wolf says. “I enjoyed working with the kids when I was I the school. All of my sweepers were students and getting to be part of their lives made it a good place to work.”
While helping to oversee energy conservation efforts across Canyons’ more than 46 schools and facilities, Wolf also volunteered and served in elected leadership positions with USEA representing the interests of the professionals who serve meals, drive buses, work as classroom aides, run computer networks, and maintain school buildings and grounds.
“[Brandon] is not only a great person to work with, but he has saved the District tens of thousands of dollars just by monitoring and conserving water and electrical usage,” says CSD Facilities Director Matthew Wolford. “We’re sad he’s leaving us but recognize the importance of the work he’ll do with the USEA. No one can go to Brandon and say, ‘you don’t know what it’s like to be an ESP,’ because he can say, ‘yes, I do.’”
Wolf says his years in Canyons have reinforced for him the importance of public education and the role every employee plays in student success.
“Watching the District grow has solidified how important public education is and how it is still very much needed,” Wolf says. “Everyone needs a choice and everyone does have a choice if they come to public education.”
Though is office will now be at the state level, the leadership philosophy he developed in Canyons will continue guiding his work as he looks to strengthen partnerships with the policymakers who fund public schools, the people who teach and work in them, and the communities they serve.
“We’re (USEA) here to work with you, to better the whole education experience for our students and bring the communities together,” Wolf says. “That’s kind of my thing, I like to build that relationship and community, bringing everyone together, I love that.”
