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Breaking down the barriers |
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Written by Caroline Zentner LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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Monday, September 21 2009, 10:28 PM |
Gabe Nicholas is a long way from his home in New Brunswick but he’s making friends fast through the FNMI Transition Program at Lethbridge College.
He’ll soon be starting classes in the interior design program but he’s already got one class under his belt, the Orientation to College Learning.
“I enjoyed everyone I met in (that class). We have a really good group,” he said.
Nicholas, from the Tobique First Nation, was planning to move to Alberta anyway and a friend recommended the college’s interior design program. He applied to the FNMI (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) Transition Program and was one of 14 students selected for the program. The Orientation to College Learning class started at the beginning of August to prepare them for the college experience. The course helped them learn about themselves, their learning styles and cultural strengths and acquainted them with college services.
“It lit a fire underneath me,” said Barnaby Bigsmoke, another student in the FNMI Transition Program. “It opened my eyes to how important education is.”
Bigsmoke is from the Piikani First Nation and after living and working in British Columbia for some time, he enrolled in the college’s criminal justice program.
“The transition program is really geared toward our unique groups of FNMI learners,” said Robin Little Bear, FNMI manager. “It incorporates culture and is geared toward student skills.”
Students learn tools to help them be successful at their studies including study skills, life skills, cultural practices, time management and budgeting.
“The aboriginal community has various barriers they face, not only their location but their cultural differences,” Little Bear said.
Those barriers can include factors like residential schools, lack of band funding, geographic isolation or individual issues like health, family violence and addictions.
She said research studies have shown students entering post-secondary studies need to integrate into the college or university community and First Nations people need their own place within the larger college community. The FNMI transition program is designed to build a cohort of students that moves through the system so they can support each other and create a family-like bond.
“With First Nations people, when you’re away from family it’s a big adjustment,” Little Bear said. “The program is really about student success and addressing barriers for FNMI learners.”
Once the semester begins, the FNMI students will take an additional class called Achieving College Success. Next January the group class focuses on leadership and communication skills.
Offered in partnership with the RBC Foundation, the program also offers students a $1,000-scholarship at the end of each semester provided they maintain a grade point average of 2.0 and complete a minimum of 12 credits. They’re also eligible for a $1,000 bursary at the end of the August course for a total of $3,000.
“It’s a good incentive,” Nicholas said.
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