Siksika celebrates student success in IT foundations program
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Despite a series of weather-related delays, Phase Siksika Nation High School students have completed the first CompTIA Tech, IT foundations training program to be offered at a First Nations high school in Canada.
The inaugural cohort saw 13 of the 15 students who had started the program seeing it through to completion.
“It is so different from the original curriculum computer science course in that it is Indigenous focused, and it covered all areas of technology (including) gaming, programming, and the like,” said Lisa Calf Robe, principal of Siksika Nation High School. “It is something that I knew would capture our students’ attention and more so their participation and their willingness to be a part of this pilot.”
The program is the result of a collaborative effort between Siksika High School, the Blackfoot Tech Council, and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).
Calf Robe explained Siksika High School is currently in discussions with CompTIA and the Blackfoot Tech Council to continue offering the course in future years.
The idea would be to potentially explore continued courses for the students who completed the pilot, extending the collaboration to offer the same courses again, and/ or to expand the course offerings which students may be interested in participating in.
“We try every avenue to seek the engagement, to seek that commitment from the students, and to make it as successful for them as possible to keep them right from the beginning to the very end of the class so that they achieve that success,” said Calf Robe. “This definitely proved and showed us they loved it, and we would like to carry on with something like this in hopes of continuing those successful stories for our students to complete some courses.”
She explained the completion of programs such as this lays the foundation for career paths in technology for the students relating to gaming, programming, coding, and design, among others.
On the board of education side, the ongoing goal is to ensure students have access to information and resources in order to succeed in these fields, just as they would in any others such as if they were to go into medicine or education.
“We are very proud of these students and their achievement. This program proves that Siksika’s students can excel in technology when provided with the right pathways to learn,” said Harlon McMaster, board chair of the Blackfoot Tech Council. “The completion rate shows what’s possible when we design education that truly serves our communities. We’re excited to see how these graduates will use their skills to benefit both their futures and their communities.”
For future iterations of the course, Calf Robe added discussions will be taking place as to how it will be operated; whether as a three or five credit course; operated every day or every other day; whether it will run for a school year or a semester; and how it will slot into regular student timetables.