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Reaching out for help to deal with a substance abuse problem is the first step that people usually need to take when they have run out of their own solutions to change their lives.

It is a terrifying step for most people to admit there is a problem that they need help with and it takes courage to reach out, but courage is what the graduates of the Rising Sun Substance Abuse Day Program have got in abundance.

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Trend College in Stony Plain is a place for young adults who are having trouble fitting into mainstream society. Classes are held in a plain country church, surrounded by farmers fields.

This "school in a church" is a place for 18 to 30 year olds who are running out of options.

They come from many backgrounds, all of them with personal struggles. They are released inmates, single mothers, and people who have drifted in and out of jobs without direction. Others are from well-to-do homes. Most have not finished high school.

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It is no secret that the cost of education can leave students with a debt burden that is into the tens of thousands of dollars. People pursuing a post-secondary education, therefore, are looking for all the financial help they can get. Sweetgrass contacted several people with professional experience in academic institutions to find out how students can prepare for and acquire a scholarship or bursary.

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Life on the streets of the city is often referred to as the mean streets, because life on the streets often leads, for many young Aboriginal people, to self-destructive behavior that can lead to the deadly disease called AIDS.

The Feather of Hope, an Aboriginal AIDS prevention society in Edmonton, is focusing on reaching young Aboriginal people with the Mean Street youth outreach project.

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"Open your eyes and be aware, baby." If you hear young people rapping these lyrics, you can thank Ken Ward, the Enoch Spirit Fire Ensemble and rapper Conway Kootney for raising their awareness to the consequences of HIV/AIDS.

The music video Be Aware follows the story of a young woman on the powwow trail who enjoys the parties and the tipi creeping, but doesn't know how to protect herself from HIV.

Using traditional and modern symbols and storytelling, the video depicts her anguish about who will raise her young daughter when she's gone.

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The dynasty continues. And how!

In its 10 years of hockey history at the annual Federation Cup tournament considered the Grand Prix of Metis hockey, the Gift Lake Islanders once again dominated going undefeated through the entire April 1 to 4 tournament at the Enoch Recreation Centre on the Enoch Reserve. That makes seven wins in 10 years.

In a 5-4 thriller over Peavine, the Islanders notched the winning goal with just 48 seconds remaining in regular time, retaining the title they had won the year before.

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The peewee Braves I team convinced their opponents from Wetaskiwin that resistance was futile on March 11, jumping out to a seven-goal lead in the two-game total goal Zone 4 hockey final.

Realizing it wasn't in the cards for them to come back and win Game 2 by a minimum of seven goals, which they would have had to do to overcome the 8-1 licking Hobbema put on them in the opener, Wetaskiwin conceded the round and the zone title to the Braves.

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No one has to tell Edmonton's Won-18 they are taking the long road to success, a hip hop group from Edmonton with no plans to relocate to a place with more exposure? Sounds a little risky.

It seems the last time any Edmonton act took their music outside the prairies to a wide audience was when Moe Berg and the Pursuit of Happiness were telling everyone they were "adults now." And that was rock n' roll, for which there is perhaps just a tad more interest.

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He's been one busy man with art tours in Japan, Germany and Australia where the work of George Littlechild, a 40-year-old Cree artist from Alberta's Hobbema First Nation is described as very exotic.

A feature show at Edmonton's Bearclaw Gallery promoted as the Prayer Offering and Otherwise showcased Littlechild's art. Most of his work is selling at exhibitions mainly in Ottawa, Hull, Vancouver, Kamloops and Seattle. Littlechild makes his home in Vancouver.