Graduating class a lesson in successful partnering

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When the class of 2003 from Leask community school had their graduation ceremony in May, it was a time to not only celebrate the accomplishments of each member of the graduating class, but also to celebrate the team effort that helped make those accomplishments possible.

Of the 20 students graduating from the school this year, 14 of them are First Nations students from nearby Mistawasis First Nation. This is the first time Aboriginal students have made up such a large percentage of the school's graduating class.

Students on Mistawasis attend Chief Mistawasis school on reserve from kindergarten to Grade 9, and then must bus 20 minutes to Leask to finish their education.

Many of the Mistawasis students graduating this year are completing their high school education after previously having dropped out. Some left to have a baby, while others "just weren't ready for school at that point in their life, and decided to re-enter back into the mainstream school," explained Gene Ouellette, communications officer for Mistawasis.

"A lot of the students that are graduating are probably 18, 19, 20, 21 years old. So it might have taken them a little bit longer, but never the less they have still finished," Ouellette said.

"We believe for the most part that the kids that might have dropped out a little bit early, in Grade 10 or 11, that eventually they will go back. And I think that's more of a growing trend as well. It seems like it's becoming more and more popular, as opposed to quitting and then staying away from school."

The increasing numbers of students returning to school to complete their education is also having an impact on younger students, Ouellette explained.

"It's proving as an incentive or inspiration for the younger ones to carry through, so they could get it over and done with while they're still young, as opposed to having to wait."

Mistawasis Chief Darryl Watson credits the success of the students in part to a partnership the First Nation has entered into with the Saskatchewan Valley School Division, North West Regional Community College in North Battleford, and the province. Muskeg Lake First Nation is also involved in the partnership.

"There was this reality identified by the province in the past where not a lot of our children were finishing their Grade 12 studies. So we looked at the possibilities and ways of increasing that percentage."

The partnership approach, Watson said, is "one way of dealing with getting more of First Nations children from my community through the doors and completing their Grade 12 studies. It's working in partnership to find alternative ways of educating our children, because a lot of our children have a lot of social problems, a lot of other issues ... they basically can't stay focused and stay in school and go through the programming. So we have to figure out different alternatives to try to entice these children to stay in school and finish their studies."

Owen Johnson, principal of Leask community school, credits the growing success of First Nations students in the school to the partnership between the college, school division and First Nations, as well as to "the First Nations communities wanting to be part of something that offers more potential for their kids to succeed. "We're through our second year of the partnership now, and with it comes programming that opens doors for adults in our communities. There's an adult 10 program running and an adult 12 program running. So it's that attempt to not slam the door on kids when they hit that magic age of 22," Johnson said. That is the age at which the public system stops funding a person's education. That age limit used to be a stumbling block for students returning to school, but through the partnership, that hurdle has been eliminated, thanks to provincial training allowance dollars being made available to those students.

"Once you're into your 20s, and you may have some young children, your needs financially ar greater than when you were 18 or 19 and you didn't have children. So now, if I'm going to go back to school, is there some kind of way that some of those needs can be met? And provincial training allowance dollars have done that for our students ... they're getting some of the supports that they need.

"You don't have to be stuck in poverty and everybody else just slam doors on you say, well, you created that life that you now have, so you fix it. I think it's been a role by the provincial government, the partnerships with the regional college, with ourselves as a school division, with First Nations communities, and saying, hey, let's give these kids a real good shot at trying to do something with finishing up school," he said.