A group of St. Patrick High School students in the Do Edaezhe program got the chance to go skiing in Banff, Alberta, last week. None of the students had gone skiing before, but Tracy Mueller, community liason worker with the program, said they were all fearless by the end of the trip. - photo Courtesy of Tracey Mueller |
Funds found for supporting at-risk students
Do Edaezhe program set to expand outside Yellowknife after GNWT steps up
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 12, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Do Edaezhe, a program created by the Catholic school board in Yellowknife (YCS) in its final funding year, will be branching out into the territory next year thanks to funding from the territorial government.
The program promotes leadership skills in at-risk students who were in danger of or were currently dropping out of school. There are
currently 300 students participating in the program within the Catholic school district.
The program gives students the chance to do things they otherwise wouldn't be able to do, such as going skiing in Banff, Alta., as a group of St. Patrick High School students did last week.
"We used the trip to teach them about healthy risk taking and goal setting," said Tracey Mueller, one of the Do Edaezhe facilitators at the high school.
"They then had to do an activity comparing what they learned in skiing to real life. The majority of them concluded that when things get hard, you have to keep getting up and trying if you want to achieve success."
For the past five years, including this year, the Catholic board was funded approximately $1.5 million per year by the federal government, but that funding ends in June of this year.
"We were going to try and continue (the program) somehow, but this gives us additional funding to do it with - it's a good thing," said Simon Taylor, chair of Yellowknife Catholic Schools.
In a press release issued Monday, Jackson Lafferty, minister of Education, Culture and Employment, announced $623,000 in funding for Yellowknife Catholic Schools to expand the program in three pilot communities which have yet to be chosen.
The funding comes as part of the Education Renewal Initiative (ERI), which is the plan to improve education in the NWT.
"One of the core commitments of ERI is addressing student wellness, and we have seen much more engaged, attentive and confident students emerging from this Do Edaezhe program over the past five years," Lafferty stated.
While the program doesn't have to end and other communities will get to experience it, the program in Yellowknife will continue but not on the same scale.
"It's not going to look the same next year as it is this year. It's going to be smaller," said Mike Huvenaars, superintendent of business for YCS.
"We have seven facilitators (this year) and they work directly with students. Next year, we're going to have
four. Of the four, YCS is funding two of them, and the GNWT is funding the other two."
The program won't run in the fall as that time will be used to plan and implement the pilot Do Edaezhe programs in the other communities, but will run in the winter session with activities for students, on a smaller scale.
"The intention is the program will be modified based on community needs and we will use the money for staffing, travel and stuff like that," Huvenaars said.
"A big part of it is planning for the other communities, doing surveys and other things and figuring out what they need."
