Stick to educational goals, college president says

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Aurora College in Fort Smith, serving the western part of the Northwest Territories, has been training northerners for careers and jobs since 1969. Forty thousand students attend the Aurora campus in Inuvik, the main Thebaca campus in Fort Smith, and the Yellowknife campus. Aurora College also offers small programs in 20 other communities, such as in adult basic education and skill-based training.

As college president, Maurice Evans, 43, found himself realizing that to really fulfill all of the obligations of his position he needed to consider education a life-long goal.

Evans, who is the first Aboriginal president of the college, appointed in January 1999, was raised in Fort Smith. He credits his sister for inspiring him to finish high school.

"I did have a good role model my older sister. She completed high school and went on to become a nurse. Because of that I always felt that the bare minimum was that at least I should complete high school," said Evans. "I certainly credit my success to doing that. I really think that it is important that people stick with their educational goals," he said.

After finishing high school, Evans went to college for a year, but found that he was not committed or dedicated to complete the program he was in. So he worked in the construction field for one year before deciding to go back to school. He then worked for the N.W.T. Native Court Workers Association. He started as a court worker and moved up to the positions of supervisor, training officer and executive director.

"I had a bit of a taste for management through this job. One of the things that came to my mind at that point was that if I wanted to further myself, whether it would be in the government sector, that I needed to formalize my post-secondary education," said Evans.

At that point he attended the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He then moved back to Fort Smith and got into government management and worked with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs as regional superintendent for the Fort Smith region.

"I was back in my home town again. It was very pleasing for me. I've always felt very drawn to this community," he said. "I consider Fort Smith my home; I've lived in the North for most of my life," said Evans. Fort Smith, 724 km north of Edmonton, has 2,240 Dene, First Nation, non-Aboriginal and Metis people.

Evans then took a break from management and worked for Parks Canada as a senior advisor.

"During this time a position was advertised as vice president of operations for Aurora College. It was considered to be a development position, with the intent that the individual who succeeded in that capacity would work with the existing college president," said Evans. "Basically it was a succession planning. The person would work with the former president, Chuck Parker, and you would eventually take over full responsibility when you were appointed president," he said.

What are Evans' words of wisdom?

"For myself I guess if I was to give any Aboriginal people any thoughts on my success, I like to think of it as getting up one more time when I fell down. The challenge is to stick with your goals and aspirations," he said.

He credits the awareness that he developed about alcoholism while working as a court worker for keeping him on the right track.

"I think that my background was no different than the majority of Aboriginal people out there. I think we all in some ways were affected by the alcohol or drugs to some extent. I know for myself I was fortunate that when I was working as a court worker that many of the training opportunities were around alcohol awareness. At the age of 23 to 24, alcoholism became an issue for me. I had some knowledge of what was happening to me and was able to admit that yes, alcohol was a big issue for me. I had to decide to put away that lifestyle that I like to think of as toys and grow up. Get serious and get on with my life. I'm not pretending that today thereare no challenges. I'm just glad that I left that lifestyle behind," he said.

Evans claims that his biggest challenge when he went back to school was developing study habits. Actually being able to sit down for long periods of time, doing research or writing.

"I have to do that often in my job now and it has certainly helped in my job today," said Evans, who added that he should have gone to a community college prior to entering university. "It would have been a lot easier I would've been prepared for the transition," he said.

Evans and his wife Sheila take a serious stance when it comes to their four children's education.

"I think that it is important for parents to take an important role in their children's schools. Many, many people have a negative view of school. Partly because of some of the historical wrongdoings that have happened in the residential schools. So there is a lot of distrust the parents have with people in authority, as in teachers," said Evans. "So that is why I believe that if we want our children to succeed we have to work in partnership with the schools. We must not be scared or shy to express our concerns. To work closely and support the people who are teaching our children," he said.

"The really big thing is persistence. Just plain being persistent and being responsible for yourself. Being responsible for the issues that come into your life. You don't blame anybody else; you just get on with it and deal with it," said Evans. "I know that is often easier said than done."