Siksika Outreach school band together to achieve success

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Siksika Outreach School has come a long way since 13 students and their teachers crammed into a dilapidated portable. With a vision of growing into a bigger space, the creation of a tight-knit support system, and a merger with Sequoia Outreach School, the institution is now 171 students strong accompanied a 62 per cent success rate.
After the unification, Siksika Outreach School, whose students are often battling issues of substance abuse, mental health, domestic and justice problems, grew from a junior high school to accommodating up to Grade 12 students, including young parents.
As last year marked the first graduation ceremony with 18 graduates, the institution is congratulating a bigger graduating class this year with 26 of their students crossing the stage – many regular trailblazers who are among the first in their family to receive the diploma.
“They’re dealing with many issues, and they’re referred here based on those issues typically, and even with that safety net that we’re trying to create, it’s still difficult,” said Bruce Dobbin, principal at Siksika Outreach School.
“When you watch them, it’s quite amazing, they’re helping each other with those issues.
It didn’t take long for staff to realize that these students required more than just academic help with the Alberta curriculum. Through a hands-on approach of helping the individual with issues outside of the educational system, whether it be childcare or transportation, Dobbin said the staff and students have moulded into a family.
Two students who have benefited from the approach are Leesha Leather and Kadejah Waterchief, both orphans raised by family members and each raising two children of their own.
“I wanted a future for my children plus I want to be a good role models for my siblings, if they see me graduate then hopefully it will inspire them to graduate,” said Leather, whose younger sister is also attending the school. “It was pretty hard, and a couple times I thought about giving up because my pregnancy was just too tiresome for me, but I thought for my kids I need to keep going. It was better to do it now.”
With hopes of returning to Siksika Nation after receiving a degree in Correctional Studies, 24-year-old father of two Nigel Young was also able to graduate in part due to the available resources. As his oldest daughter suffers from a rare genetic disorder, Young, who recruited his sister and brother-in-law, pursued his studies while logging hours of over time at the children’s hospital. Receiving parenting advice from Denise Peterson for years, education consultant and teacher, she said the relationships she’s formed with students at an outreach school differ from those at a mainstream school.
“We don’t feel that it’s our role to tell them what they need, they tell us what they need, and our job is find a way to provide it,” Peterson said.
“What’s wonderful about working in an outreach school with the range of ages of kids, is that junior high students can model after these guys, and that’s really important. Sometimes when they’re young… it becomes really difficult to stay on a healthy path and one of the best things that happens in this environment is that older students nurture and model the younger students.”
Siksika Outreach School had their graduation ceremony on June 22.