May, 2016
A Visit to a High School in this northern reserve- Kihew Ashiniy Education Centre.
When we first arrived at this northern reserve in Alberta last Saturday, we drove by the Kihew Asiniy Education Centre. But we were not sure what this place was about.
P., our leader for this trip took us to visit the Education Centre on Monday afternoon.
Kishew Asiniy is a school for students in this northern reserve community from grades 6 to 12.
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| The Kihew Asiniy Library |
The school has a little over two hundred students with twenty staff members.
From the moment we stepped inside the school, the Cree culture and influence was evident throughout the school both in its design and artwork such as posters and wall hangings in the school
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| A Cree statute greeting visitors to the school |
In the main lobby, a native sculpture welcome students and visitors proudly into the school.
The Vice Principal and a couple of students took us around the school for a tour.
We met many students and they were very friendly towards us.
Many just came up, extended their hands and greeted us with much warmth and sincerity.
There were a lot of encouraging messages posters all around the school.
We visited the following classes:
A co-ed gym class - the gym teacher invited us to participate in some games with the students.
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| Youths from our team were invited to participate in a game |
Gym Class -Some of our young people did take part in a few volleys with the students.
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| We took part in a Gr. 10 Cree Language class |
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| A Grade 10 Cree class where we sat and learned along with students. |
A Cree language class where our young people sat side by side with some of the students to learn the Cree language.
I learned that there are 42 characters in the Cree alphabets and about the history of the name of the reserve.
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| A cute pin cushion! |
As a former Family Studies teacher, I was interested to see what students were learning in their sewing class.
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| A project in progress in the Sewing Class |
In this class students learned about sewing, arts and crafts and working with traditional beading.
It was interesting to learn about the Beauty Culture Class as well.
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| A poster on the Elders' Room |
What made this school unique was the school's emphasis on Cree language and culture.
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| There were artworks of native themes by students throughout the school. |
Many classrooms and throughout the school were decorated with beautiful artwork pieces related to aboriginal themes.
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| A smudging table was set up in almost every calssroom |
Each classroom had a table with things ready for students to perform a smudging ceremony and to say a prayer before class started each morning.
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| A corner of the Elders' Room where elders would come in and talk with students |
One of the rooms was dedicated to be used for meeting and counselling of students.
It is called the Elders' Room when the elders of the community can come in and talk with students and share with them their wisdom.
In the last period of the school day, we participated in a high school sex education class in the assembly hall given by the Public Health Dept.
Using a couple of games, the nurses tried to teach students the different types of STD – sexually transmitted diseases and how easily these diseases could be passed on from one person to the other.
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| We visited a Cree class and learned about the alphabets of the Cree language |
Our experience at the Education Centre an educational and a pleasant one.
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| Colourful quilts were being made at the Sewing Centre |
We also visited the Sewing Centre briefly where a number of women were employed to make quilts and clothing items with native designs.
The ladies at this sewing centre were busy making ten quilts for the Fort McMurray evacuees fleeing the wild fires.
We saw many handmade quilts with beautiful designs. I will make sure I buy a couple of them and bring them back to Toronto as gifts!
R.T.
A Northern Reserve
Alberta
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