U of S looks to mentors to help Aboriginal students

Page 17

The number of Aboriginal people attending universities and other post-secondary institutions has never been greater. While this growing participation in higher learning is expected to lead to more Aboriginal employment in a broader range of higher paying fields, for many Indigenous students, attending university is an intimidating and isolating experience.

The University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon has recognized these difficulties, and through the efforts of its Aboriginal Students' Centre (ASC), it is working to address the unique needs of these students and to make their time at the institution more positive and enjoyable for all.

"There are academic issues faced by Aboriginal students, but there are also a lot of other, more personal issues," explained Kathleen Makela, the director of the ASC. "We see a lot of people who come to university. They're the high achievers, the ones that everyone in their family is looking at, and they get the sense that they have to do really well. They feel a lot of pressure. It gets to be really stressful."

Add to this the pressures of adapting to city life, of living on an often very limited budget, of being away from family and friends, and one can easily see how daunting university life can be.

"There is unfortunately a high annual percentage of Aboriginal students dropping out after their first year of study at the university level," confirmed Steven Swann, a Cree from Pelican Narrows who overcame many of the same difficulties and is now nearing completion of a degree in Native Studies.

In addition to being a student, Swann is also employed by the ASC, and drawing on his own experiences at the U of S, he has developed a new mentorship program that he hopes will lead to fewer drop-outs and more Aboriginals persevering to graduation.

"The mentorship program is intended to target first year Aboriginal students," explained Swann. "We get the upper year Aboriginal students to connect and become close to first year students so that they aren't so dependent on being at home all the time. We find that new students, Aboriginal students especially, that go home every weekend are the ones that tend to drop out or tend not to succeed in class because they're too dependent on family. I'm hoping that with this program, they'll have a more grounded experience at university, where they don't have to call on their parents and family at home. They can find new family and friends here at university. They can have the support they need here as well as at home.

"The first years need the most support," Swann continued, "because they are new to the whole system and to the community. For the most part they come from isolated reserves, with populations no larger than 100 people, to a city with over two hundred thousand people. A mentor would help these students adjust to urban life as well as life inside the walls of the university. These mentors can also guide them academically, show them how to budget properly, even show them how to cook their own meals and do their own laundry, although we hope it doesn't come to that."

The mentorship program is not expected to solve all the problems of Aboriginal students, but it will represent another source of valuable support to complement the ASC's many existing programs. These programs include weekly Elders counselling services, monthly newsletters on Aboriginal issues and concerns, high school outreach initiatives and the staging of orientation sessions and cultural events like powwows.

"The program is still just a proposal right now," Swann explained, "but it has been approved pending the budget. We're looking to start it in the fall of 2002. The University of Saskatchewan has promised a better environment for Aboriginal students and said that they want this school to stay the Canadian university that has the highest enrolment of Aboriginal peoples. This program will help achieve those goals."