{"id":96570,"date":"2024-10-18T14:52:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T18:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=96570"},"modified":"2024-10-18T20:57:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T00:57:00","slug":"celebrating-indigenous-grads-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/10\/celebrating-indigenous-grads-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Indigenous grads\u2019 success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last October, students from the Faculty of Education\u2019s Indigenous Adult Education (ABED) program visited campus for the first time<\/a> to learn more about the Indigenous community and supports available at Brock.<\/p>\n

A year later, the same group crossed the Convocation stage alongside a significant cohort of Indigenous graduates, marking an important moment for Brock\u2019s Indigenous Educational Studies programs.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Monique Lavallee (ABED \u201924), Executive Director of Niwasa Kendaaswin Teg, crossed Brock\u2019s Convocation stage to receive a Certificate in Indigenous Adult Education.<\/p><\/div>\n

Monique Lavallee (ABED \u201924), Executive Director of Niwasa Kendaaswin Teg, said journeying together with her team and professors at Brock reinforced her understanding that Indigenous education can \u2014 and should \u2014 happen in community, on the land and in relationship with Elders and Knowledge Holders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blend of theory and experiential learning made this opportunity meaningful and culturally relevant. Incorporating elements such as a medicine walk, basket making and the creation of classroom resources, among many other activities, held space for us to honour Indigenous ways of being and doing,\u201d Lavallee said.<\/p>\n

The growing number of Indigenous graduates represents an important step forward, said Assistant Professor of Educational Studies Jeannie\u00a0Martin, who teaches in the Indigenous Educational Studies programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an affirmation that the program opportunities at Brock provided for Indigenous people to participate in post-secondary education are more reflective of the Indigenous ways of teaching and learning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s celebrations included graduates from ABED<\/a>, the Gidayaamin Indigenous Certificate<\/a> and a Bachelor of Education program offered in partnership with the Oshki-Pimache-O-Win: The Wenjack Education Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Motivated by her career goal of teaching Indigenous adults, Graduate Karlina Belbeck (BEd \u201924) began by taking a few courses in the ABED certificate program before deciding to pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program was unique and full of\u00a0hands-on learning\u00a0opportunities incorporating Indigenous pedagogies which has helped me gain knowledge and confidence. I was supported by my professors who were extremely helpful,\u201d Belbeck said.<\/p>\n

Martin\u00a0said the success of Indigenous graduates means learning\u00a0is happening\u00a0in\u00a0a place where they feel safe.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Indigenous Adult Education graduate Karlina Belbeck (BEd \u201924) began her studies at Brock in the Indigenous Adult Education certificate program before deciding to pursue a Bachelor of Education.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGiven the history of the institution of education\u00a0and Indigenous people, it can be challenging for Indigenous students. Further,\u00a0many are first-generation, so their success\u00a0is\u00a0something to be doubly celebrated,\u201d\u00a0said Martin.<\/p>\n

At the end of every course,\u00a0Martin\u00a0said students and faculty would engage in reflection to understand what worked for students and what didn\u2019t \u2014 a collaboration Martin felt was a vital part of their learning process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do Indigenous students want to learn? This reflection allowed us to continue developing within the program pedagogical approaches more aligned with our Indigenous ways, such as land-based learning,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

Graduate Allison Mitten (ABED \u201924) said this reflective process gave her insight into the student experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program has helped me be a better teacher, and I have learned ways I can make educational programming more culturally inclusive,\u201d Mitten said.<\/p>\n

For Dayna Quequish\u2019s (BEd \u201924), the journey toward becoming an educator was shaped by her time as a tutor in a Grade 4\/5 classroom during the Oshki-Pimache-O-Win: The Wenjack Education Institute program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was assigned a student with special needs who had behavioural challenges. This student taught me a lot, along with the teacher in the classroom. My inspiration to continue my education came from these two people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Quequish\u2019s own educational path has included some detours. Driven to go back and finish Grade 12, Quequish completed high school and immediately pursued her post-secondary education.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, I remember how crazy I thought I was to be applying for a university program as I felt I didn\u2019t have the necessary literacy skills to be successful,” she said. “I went anyway, and an instructor said not to worry, because we had five years to work on writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quequish held onto those words and couldn\u2019t be happier she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cReflecting on my first-year writing versus my fifth, I have seen so much growth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Quequish said she is grateful to Oshki-Pimache-O-Win: The Wenjack Education Institute\u00a0and Brock for not only the program itself, but the online delivery that helped her to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program has been a part of my life for five years; I\u2019m so glad I stuck it out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Assistant Professor of Indigenous Educational Studies Sherri Vansickle, the lead on the partner program, said she is incredibly proud of this cohort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese graduates have overcome unimaginable obstacles to cross the stage at Convocation,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are a truly inspiring group of Indigenous students, and now teachers. Yoyanere \u2014 you are on a good path.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last October, students from the Faculty of Education\u2019s Indigenous Adult Education (ABED) program visited campus for the first time to learn more about the Indigenous community and supports available at Brock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":96663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,7484,40,6833,1],"tags":[13927,13929,32,98,13926,10280,13113,13928,13930,3093],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96570"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96681,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96570\/revisions\/96681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}