Good Day

Today was a good day in terms of getting things organized. 

I set up a tour of the Neqweyqwelsten School run by Simpcw First Nation just north of Barrier. This came after I received an invitation to come out to the school made as a comment from Judy Matthew on this blog. I’ll talk with her and with other teachers hopefully including some former students who have returned to teach. I’ll speak with students and if the stars align right, I should be able to speak with acting chief. I hope to not only do some interviews, but do a short video about my tour which I will ideally post on this blog.

This trip also aligns nicely with another interview I’ve wanted to do. As I talked about in previous posts, I had planned to talk with Harold Eustache, a Simpcw elder, but he had some health problems and had to cancel. I have now arranged to meet up with him at his home near the school and do the interview with him there. 

I’m also arranging to speak with Brenda Celesta, a First Nations teacher at Norkam Secondary School in Kamloops. She’s also Simpcw and I hope that she’ll be able to give a corresponding perspective to my tour of Neqweyqwelsten School. As someone who works in the public school system, she should be able to give insight into what First Nations students experience outside of a band school. I’ll also talk with her about what her school is doing to help First Nations students feel more included in the school community.

I will keep you posted on the progress of these interviews. I’m feeling optimistic about getting some more first-hand experience seeing what some First Nations communities are doing to manage education in their own communities and what that means to the band and its youth.