Educator's fear of failure leads to success

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Athabasca University President Dr. Frits Pannekoek presented the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award to Dr. Leona Makokis, president of Blue Quills First Nations College. The honor took place in Edmonton on Nov. 10.

"I definitely did not get here by myself," said Makokis about her selection for the award. "I work with an awesome team of people at Blue Quills. Any one of these staff members could be awarded this same award because we all work together."

Makokis said the honor goes beyond recognition for her efforts, and goes to acknowledge the stand Native parents made during the take-over of the Blue Quills residential school back in the early 1970s, a stand that led to the reality of Native-run education.

"Listening to their visions in terms of what they saw, how Blue Quills residential school would turn around, we would be responsible for the education of our own children, and that we would be responsible for ourselves, in terms of getting the academics or the experience so we can give back to our communities. Therefore, really, I'm just giving back. For me, my parents did the blazing of the trail, so they made it possible to really believe in ourselves that we could in turn do it."

According to Pannekoek, Athabasca University polls its graduates to determine who has done the most with their degree and in the end this would decide the recipient of the award.

"She deserves the award," said Pannekoek. "Blue Quills is a shining example of leadership."

Friends, family and colleagues came out to show their appreciation and congratulate Makokis on her award.

"It's about time she's being honored," said William Aguiar, counsellor and instructor at Blue Quills. "She definitely deserves this."

Makokis's sister-in-law, Dr. Patricia Makokis, director of curriculum development at Blue Quills, said the award demonstrates true teamwork at Blue Quills.

"When it comes to the work at the college, it's a collective effort that serves our community," said Patricia. "Leona is a beautiful Cree woman and colleague."

Victor Houle, director of First Nations Relations, Treaty 6, said, "people like Leona have opened doors for many of our people."

"She is very strong-willed," said Houle, Makokis' brother-in-law.

In 1992, Makokis, a former residential school student of Blue Quills, assumed the role of president. Her commitment to education started with a secretarial program offered at Blue Quills through the University of Alberta. In 1978 she decided to go for the administration degree at Blue Quills offered through Athabasca University. In 1982, after completing her Bachelor of Administration with a major in public administration, Makokis worked primarily in the area of Indigenous education. In 2001, Makokis obtained a doctorate in education from the University of San Diego.

Makokis said when she first attended university, she had a lot of self-doubts. The drive to be successful in her studies came from the fear of failure.

"Although I got my admin degree here at Blue Quills, I thought well, maybe I'm not as good or maybe I'm not as smart," said Makokis. "When I went to the U of A, I began to realize, hey, I'm keeping up with these young people and that I can do it. I really began to believe that I was capable of doing it. Therefore, I worked extremely hard and I always do because I'm so afraid to fail."

She said she was inspired by her parents to succeed and they played an important role in becoming who she is today with a story they told.

"When [Blue Quills] was a residential school, my dad was a janitor with a Grade 2 level of education," Makokis explained. "At the time that there was talk about the take-over of the school, the priest called in my father and asked him what grade of education he had. My father told him.

The priest said, 'Look at yourself. Do you think with that kind of an education you could run an organization like this?' And my dad said 'No, but maybe someday one of my children will.' My parents had suchfaith and belief in us and that's what drove us," Makokis said. "If somebody has belief in you, that is what drives you."

Makokis is the eldest of five brothers and three sisters.

In 2001, Blue Quills celebrated its 30th year as Canada's first Indigenous-controlled education centre. Throughout those years, Blue Quills has been committed to building relationships and partnerships with Maskwachees Cultural College, Athabasca University, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan College, Lakeland College, Keyano College, Nechi Institute, the University of Calgary and San Diego State University.

"It's not institutions that make things happen, it's the people within those organizations that make things happen," said Makokis.

She believes that through the alumni award, these colleges and universities will recognize that "we are doing something very unique here at Blue Quills."

"It's not unique to us, because we are doing things that represent who we are as Iyiniwak," said Makokis. Iyiniwak means Cree people, she said.

Blue Quills has developed its own programs, such as the leadership and management program, which comes from a philosophy of offering an Indigenous perspective.

Each morning class at Blue Quills starts with a smudge, prayer and song, which is something that you wouldn't see in mainstream educational institutions, Makokis said.

"A part of what we do here is we give voice to our students through a lot of circles and a lot of talks," said Makokis. "We talk about emotions, which in another institution you wouldn't be able to do."

So, what does the future hold for Blue Quills? "I really feel that we are on the right track," said Makokis. "Not only are we teaching who we are teaching with respect to our identity and our language, but we are also providing the skills as leaders, social workers, teachers, administrators, politicians or whatever. In doing that, we are all on a collective healing journey. This is where th pain started for our people generations ago and we are taking back what was taken away from us. We are taking back our identity, language, spirituality, parenting and we are taking back being human."