Kenora groups get together to provide support for Aboriginal students
from http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/story.php?id=215194
Sport and recreational council to offer more help to aboriginal students
By Mike Aiken - Miner and News - February 24, 2006
Grade 9 students have enough trouble making it through the year. Imagine if you were a First Nation student from a small community.
Beaver Brae principal Sean Monteith announced Wednesday he will be working with the St. Thomas Aquinas, the city, Treaty 3 and a number of community groups on a new athletic program which will help encourage aboriginal youth to stay in school.
Known as the Kenora Aboriginal Sport and Recreational Council, it’s modeled on its Winnipeg counterpart, and sponsors are hoping to build role models with leadership potential.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a more exciting time,” Monteith said, referring to a number of new initiatives.
They include the province’s Learn to 18 policy, which is meant to help ensure all young people across Ontario graduate, as well as new supports for literacy and skills development.
Locally, there is also the urban aboriginal program operating in partnership with the NeChee Friendship Centre and the Fellowship Centre, where First Nations teens who have dropped out can get a chance to rejoin their peers through independent learning.
As it stands, Monteith remembered speaking with a young woman from Wabaseemoong (Whitedog), who was new to the school.
“She was just thrown in and away she goes,” he said, noting the lack of structured supports for new students.
In an effort to address these issues, the school is hoping to run a course for new Grade 9 and 10 students where they will get help with the organizational skills and coping techniques.
“I would say that we’re probably losing a lot of kids, and that’s unacceptable,” he said.
In an effort to better track their aboriginal students and their progress, both school boards have started asking parents to self-identify. While the numbers and the data are still being collected, some trends are already clear.
In recent years, First Nation students have comprised 30 per cent of Beaver Brae’s population of 950, but less than half were expected to complete their year.
By 2010, the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is expecting its population to be 50 per cent aboriginal.
Through the added supports in the school’s proposal, Monteith is hoping to see a two per cent increase in graduation rates, as well as a five per cent increase in participation rates in extra-curricular athletics.