Mount Boucherie is receiving national recognition for its successful Academy of Indigenous Studies.
The program is being credited with raising the high school’s graduation rate for Indigenous students from 55% in 2011 to 78% in 2017.
The EdCan Network has given Mount Boucherie a $5,000 grant and will feature the school in a documentary that will explore how the successful program has worked.
Kyla Winacott, teacher of Indigenous Leadership, says the graduation rate is just one of many positive outcomes of the program.
“This program has instilled confidence in our students to be proud of where they come from and what their future looks like,” she says “They’re now role models for their siblings, for the other middle schools that are coming to high school, they’re seen in public as leaders, they’re seen in the school as leaders and they can look at themselves as leaders.”
The program teaches history, literature, leadership, culture, art and Okanagan language with the input of Elders and community members of Westbank First Nation.
“The students are not just supported by teachers,” says Winacott “The students at Mount Boucherie have aboriginal tutors who are university trained teachers that are just like any of the other classroom teachers but these teachers are able to support the students more one on one"
“We also have a First Nations art studio, we have an aboriginal leadership class that is the only aboriginal leadership class in the province, we also have a local Okanagan language speaker who comes into the classroom to support the students and teach them with the Okanagan language.”
The documentary will be shot this week by the EdCan Network, a national organization that aims to help students discover their place, purpose, and path in life.
“The Academy of Indigenous Studies leverages the community’s traditional knowledge to light a learning spark in Indigenous students,” says Darren Googoo, Chair of the EdCan Network. “Our network of education changemakers looks forward to dissecting what makes this program so successful and to sharing our analysis with school districts across the country.”
The $5,000 grant, which Winacott says will be used to have more Elder presence in the classroom, enhance language of students, and for field trips, was provided to the EdCan Network from StateFarm.