Indigenous students begin new journey
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/05/2022 (1380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Brandon’s graduation season got off to an unofficial start Wednesday with an Indigenous-centred ceremony, dubbed “Our Journey,” which took place at the Riverbank Discovery Centre grounds.
The gathering featured more than 100 students of First Nations, Métis and Inuit descent who are on the cusp of graduating from Brandon University, Assiniboine Community College, Sioux Valley High School and the remaining high schools in the Brandon School Division.
While Wednesday’s ceremony didn’t feature diplomas, ACC director of Indigenous education and Brandon Coun. Kris Desjarlais told the Sun the event was designed to shine a light on Indigenous students and their academic achievements.
“So we’ll be honouring grads in a somewhat more intimate and traditional way with elders providing the gifts, we’ll bring them in with the drum song and … we’ll just be celebrating their achievements together as a community,” Desjarlais said ahead of the event.
Desjarlais went on to tell the Sun that ACC, BU, BSD and SVHS originally teamed up to put a similar event together in 2019, which involved honouring around 800 Indigenous students inside the Keystone Centre.
While this year’s ceremony didn’t feature the same level of participation, Desjarlais was just happy that this event could continue after enduring a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s also great for high school students to potentially see themselves on the other side of post-secondary, seeing First Nation, Métis or Inuit graduates from ACC and BU,” he said.
Many of the Indigenous students who took part in the “Our Journey” ceremony will also be showing up for the official BU spring convocation, which is taking place today and tomorrow at the Healthy Living Centre.
Following that, graduating ACC students will get their time in the spotlight on June 3 in Brandon and June 10 in Dauphin.
Brandon’s 2022 graduation season will come to a close with ceremonies featuring students from Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School (June 24), École secondaire Neelin High School (June 27), Vincent Massey High School (June 28) and Sioux Valley High School (June 28).
» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson