Lutsel K'e Dene School to celebrate milestone
Ceremony for school's first two graduates set for June 18
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, May 11, 2015
LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT
Lutsel K'e Dene School will be holding a milestone event next month - its first Grade 12 graduation.
"It's very exciting when a school is able to graduate a student from the community in their own community, especially when it's the very first one," said Curtis Brown, the superintendent of South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC).
Lutsel K'e is the final community of the five covered by the SSDEC to graduate students from its own school.
Devin Roberts, the principal of Lutsel K'e Dene School, said there will potentially be two graduates at the ceremony on June 18.
Tristen Lockhart - one of the two potential graduates - is hopeful more students will graduate from the school in the future.
In fact, he said students in Grade 10 and 11 have been attending class more often because of the possibility of graduating at the school.
"They look up to us," he said of other students being influenced by the two potential graduates and the prospect of a graduation ceremony.
"Because this will be the first one for them and so they're excited to be a part of it."
However, being the first graduate also brings a little bit of pressure.
"I feel a lot of responsibility right there," he said.
Most of Lockhart's schooling was elsewhere. He went to Grade 1 at Lutsel K'e Dene School before his family lived in a number of other communities. For the previous seven years he attended school in Yellowknife, where he completed Grade 11.
He then moved to Lutsel K'e for Grade 12 when his father, Felix Lockhart, was elected chief of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation and returned to the community.
The 19-year-old explained the original plan was for him to stay in Yellowknife and complete Grade 12 at Sir John Franklin High School, until he heard that Grade 12 was to be offered at Lutsel K'e Dene School.
"So that sparked my interest," he said.
Lockhart said he is looking forward to the upcoming graduation ceremony knowing he will be the first in his family to finish Grade 12.
Roberts said the graduation ceremony will be accompanied by a feast and entertainment, most likely an aboriginal comedian.
Plus, the principal said the SSDEC will be having its annual meeting in Lutsel K'e at the same time and representatives from other communities will be joining the celebration.
"They've decided this is a special occasion and will be joining us in Lutsel K'e because of it," he said. "So it's exciting."
Many political leaders, including Education, Culture and Employment Minister Jackson Lafferty, will also be invited to the graduation.
Roberts stressed that although this will be the first graduation at Lutsel K'e Dene School, students from the community have graduated high school before, but in other communities, mainly Fort Smith and Yellowknife.
"I want it known that there's been many successful graduates at the high school level from the community," he said.
"They just haven't necessarily graduated right from here because of the way the school was organized. It's no real reflection of their effort academically."
Roberts said offering Grade 12 creates more incentive for students.
"It's nice for them to have the examples of success right in front of them, not having to travel or to see that success has to happen somewhere else," he said.
The principal added students now have the option of finishing high school in Lutsel K'e, spending another year with their families and graduating from the school where they started.
"It's building school pride," he said.
"It's building on a strong sense of connection between the school and the community."
Some students might still want to graduate from a larger school where there are different programs and courses, said Roberts.
"I understand that, but this is nice that they have the option to choose, rather than being forced to have to leave just to finish high school."
Like schools in many smaller communities in the NWT, Lutsel K'e Dene School offered up to Grade 9 before beginning grade extensions, according to Brown.
The school added Grade 10, 11 and 12 over about a decade, with one of the grades being added every several years.
Lutsel K'e Dene School now has about 80 students.
