Education through engagement

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This article was published 30/05/2023 (328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Indigenous teens and young adults who have lost interest in academics in recent years for whatever reason — including but not limited to COVID-19 closures — are being welcomed back into the public school system at a new “off-campus” in the North End.

Niiwin Minisiwiwag, a standalone classroom operated by a group of inner-city community organizations and the Winnipeg School Division, is the latest addition to Selkirk Avenue.

“I just fell off. I didn’t do nothing — just being a potato in my bed,” said Orlando Harper, 17, recalling the spring of 2020, when schools closed amid the onset of a global health crisis.

All of a sudden, the then-Grade 9 student did not have to attend in-person classes at Sisler High School, so he stopped doing schoolwork. He became nocturnal and helped take care of his younger siblings in his spare time.

When classes resumed in the fall, the teen said he was used to staying home and had no interest in returning to an environment where he felt overwhelmed and was not receiving the one-on-one attention he needed to understand lessons.

An average of 400 Grade 7-12 students in the North End were reported “inactive” every school year between 2009 and 2019, prior to the start of countless pandemic stints of e-learning.

(These are students who were registered with WSD, but not actively participating at their home school and had not moved outside the division.)

The Indigenous Education Caring Society built a new alternative education site at 383 Selkirk Ave., with a goal of tackling the large number of students who become disengaged in the area every year.

The society, involving representatives from the Community Education Development Association, Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad Inc. and Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, has a memorandum of understanding with WSD to operate it.

An elder, Joe Big George (1968-2023), gifted the founders with an Ojibwa name, Niiwin Minisiwiwag. It translates to “four eagles, the meeting place of the four directions.”

The program, which includes academic, social services and cultural support, is for Indigenous students between the ages of 16 to 21. No more than 20 pupils can be enrolled in it at a time to ensure participants receive plenty of individualized attention.

“We’re able to keep them engaged throughout the year just because we are always connecting with families in a non-threatening way. It’s not like truancy is going to show up at your door or whatever — it’ll just be me: ‘Hey, what’re you doing today? Want to come to school?’” said Stephanie Miller, a community teacher with the program.

While the model is flexible, Miller said students are encouraged to arrive on time in the mornings to work. If they don’t show up before noon, she checks in with them.

The campus is open between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., so students can work through lessons at their own pace with support from two full-time teachers and an educational assistant. In addition to an open area with desks for independent study, pupils have access to a kitchen stocked with coffee and ingredients to make meals whenever they are hungry.

Every student in WSD leads an individual life with personal challenges, which can range from caregiving responsibilities to taking a job to support family finances, on top of their homework, said chief superintendent Pauline Clarke.

“It’s our responsibility to try and accommodate those young people,” said Clarke, who oversees the province’s largest school division in and around central Winnipeg.

“How can we be flexible in still encouraging them to come to school and help them to see school as a piece of a bigger picture of their life, for them?”

The division has roughly a dozen off-campus sites, the majority of which are targeted to secondary students. It also recently launched an online high school so there are more pathways for learners to obtain credits towards a Manitoba diploma.

Orlando, 17, got involved with the latest alternative offering when Sisler administration called his mother about it in late 2021. He joined when it was in a pilot stage, operating out of another facility in the division before the stand-alone classroom was complete.

“I just like it here a lot, and I just like coming to school and just working here. I just go at my own pace with work and stuff — that’s what I like about it,” he said, adding the flexibility allows him to attend art classes at nearby Children of the Earth High School throughout the week.

Cynthia Guimond said her 18-year-old granddaughter has also found success in the intimate and “learn-as-you-go” model.

Guimond said traditional schooling wasn’t a good fit because of her shy granddaughter’s nature and difficulty making friends and working within the strict school day schedule.

“I’m very happy. I didn’t think she’d graduate (before enrolling in this program) so I told her: ‘When you do graduate, I’ll give you all the bells and whistles — fancy dress, limo, (etc.).”

Dozens of people, including students and family members, gathered Tuesday on Selkirk Avenue to celebrate the official opening of the new site with speeches and a pipe ceremony.

The City of Winnipeg donated the 383 Selkirk Ave. lot. The facility was built with a $500,000 grant from the Winnipeg Foundation, as well as grants from an anonymous donor and the Thomas Sill Foundation.

Jordan Bighorn, co-director of CEDA, said the Selkirk Avenue strip, an established business hub, is increasingly becoming “an education thoroughfare” with several sites dedicated to tutoring, post-secondary training and support services for youth.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie