College opens doors to community

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Situated among the commercial offices, buildings and businesses in the west end of Edmonton, the Yellowhead Tribal College (YTC) offers a number of programs to hundreds of students with the goal of increasing their opportunities to gain meaningful employment.

The college currently has more than 300 students enrolled at its 17304-105 Ave. location. Sonny Verreault is a laison officer and student counselor there. He said many students have got their start at the college before transferring to local post-secondary institutions.

Courses at the college include an adult basic education program, diploma programs in the areas of criminal justice and First Nations management, as well as university transfer courses leading to a degree in Arts and Education. The college delivers its programs from September to April.

"We are also very proud of our information technology program, and our Aboriginal Licensed Practical Nurse Program that we are currently recruiting for this year," said Verreault. "We offered summer programs in the past and we may look at that again," he said.

On Oct. 17, YTC hosted an open house to give the school a chance to introduce its programs to the community.

"This is the first time that we've had an open house. We have a career day every year, but we would like to have an open house annually," said Verreault.

A graduation ceremony held at the Mayfield Trade Centre on Oct. 26 saw 149 students convocating. The ceremony included a grand entry and procession of graduates, speeches, a dinner, entertainment by comedian Don Burnstick, and a dance.

"The graduation was wonderful. It was good to see so many students, both young and old, graduate," said Verreault.

"The school is a great place to be because of the courses that we offer and the instructors that we have. A lot of them are qualified with PhD, masters or bachelors degrees. The combination of their personalities and their education make them wonderful instructors.

"The other thing that I like about YTC is the recognition of the Aboriginal culture and we have Elders from the community to come in and talk to the students. We are open to all potential students, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. We've had people who were non-Aboriginal attend our college and they've enjoyed the experience," said Verreault.

Tamara Thomas of the Enoch First Nation graduated from the Criminal Justice program. She said attending the college was a positive experience for her because of the cultural component of the school and the help she received from the instructors and staff.

"It was really good because there is cultural identity there with all the Aboriginal students. Everybody tries to help each other and it helped that we all came from the same background. An Elder Marceline Potts from the Alexis First Nation helped me through a lot. The majority of the time she would come into our classrooms and pray with us students before a test. That really helped me. I found that there was a lot of supportive people there," she said.