Blue Quills students reunite after 10 years

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This year marked ten years since the first Blue Quills Morning Star class graduated from the two year program.

Saturday June 20, some of the 18 who completed it were reunited at the graduation-reunion celebrations.

The Morning Star Program was set up jointly by the now defunct Alberta Indian Education Centre and the University of Alberta. The Blue Quills Native Education Council picked up the program.

For one year, Morning Star was the only post-secondary program at Blue Quills.

"This program broke a log jam in Native University Education," says John Gray, past coordinator of field experience for Morning Star. "Before that there weren't many going through."

"Professors came out from the University of Alberta to deliver courses rather than the students going there," says Sharon Steinhauer, support staff for the program.

"It was the first time there was a program of this kind, where education was delivered in their home environment," Gray adds. In 1975, 33 students started the program. By the second year, only 26 remained ? 18 of those completed and received an interim teaching certificate from the Department of Education.

"That certificate allowed us to teach for five years but within that five years, we had to pick up five full courses," says Morning Star graduate Liz Poitras. Poitras went directly to the U of A and received her bachelor of education degree in 1978, convocating in November.

"Quite a number of of the students went on to the U of A and bypassed the five year plan," says Poitras.

Mary Collins graduated from Racette School in St. Paul in 1965 and was a resident at Blue Quills School for all 12 of her grade school years. "Blue Quills was my second home," says Collins.

She attended and completed the Morning Star in 1977, worked for one year, then entered the U of A for two years. She received her bachelor's in education and is presently working on her masters.

Now, 15 of the 18 Morning Star graduates have university degrees and two others are pretty close," says Gray.

Morning Star, which means a new beginning, ran for three cycles.