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A bridge to further education Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, February 20, 2012
"This is a place where people can come and it's not scary," she said, noting students gain the academic requirements and personal self-confidence to transfer to Aurora College campuses in Fort Smith, Yellowknife or Inuvik, or even to southern institutions. "It's kind of a bridge and it's a sorely needed bridge," explained Wegernoski, who has taught at the centre since October of 2008. It's a place for people who may not have a lot of confidence in the education system, she added, noting people in Fort Resolution, like in some other communities, are hesitant about education partly because of residential schools. "It's a scary experience to approach education again," she said, explaining some younger people see their parents or grandparents working through the aftereffects of residential schools. "So I think that is still there and, even more so than that, I think the legacy of distrust of education remains. It's changing, don't get me wrong. It's changing in every community at different rates." Wegernoski encourages critical thinking in her students, noting this year, for instance, they have been talking about advertising and the media, and how they affect people's lives, as part of the English course. "I think what I enjoy the most are those little light-bulb moments when they put things together," she said. As an adult educator, Wegernoski primarily teaches developmental studies. "It's really just a new name for what we used to call adult basic education. It's worn a few coats over the years," she noted. "People that maybe didn't have an optimal experience in regular grade school, they need to come and upgrade those skills in order to maybe access a trades program or some other level of programming." Wegernoski is the only instructor at the Fort Resolution community learning centre, except for two or three times a year when there may be a visiting instructor for a trades program. "The only challenge being the only teacher is it somewhat limits the amount of courses I can rotate through a year," she said. "We have a core that we have to do. English, math and the current life skills are called the core courses that are supposed to be taught every year." Whenever possible, courses such as science, social studies and information communication technology are added. Currently, Wegernoski has three full-time students in the developmental studies program, while another student is doing a distance education program. Her students have ranged in age from 18 to 64. "Typically, we start the year with about a dozen students and, by the end of the year, it's down to three or four," she said, noting students don't finish for a variety of reasons, such as parental responsibilities and the need to go back to work. The 40-year-old Wegernoski, who is originally from Westlock, Alta., first came to the NWT in 1995 as a cook, and has also lived in Norman Wells and Fort Smith. She said she was partly inspired to become a teacher by her grandmother, who was also a teacher. While living in Norman Wells, Wegernoski also started working with students in kindergarten and Grade 1 for a healthy children's program. "I thought that would be something that would be a very worthwhile way to spend my life," she said of working in a classroom. "So here I am." While living in Fort Smith, she worked as a relief corrections officer and studied at the Teacher Education Program at Aurora College. There, she earned a teaching diploma and later a Bachelor of Education degree, which is available at the college in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan. Wegernoski said she now has a multi-faceted job, noting she is not just a teacher but also an administrator. "I think that's one of the things I enjoy, too. Every day is slightly different," she said. Wegernoski said she gets a lot of satisfaction from seeing her current and former students progress, noting one is in the Teacher Education Program at the college campus in Fort Smith.
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