Powerful powwow for RETSD students

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This article was published 24/04/2015 (3998 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Drums beat, voices sang, and bodies danced in celebration.

Hundreds of people came out to celebrate the  powwow put on by River East-Transcona School Division to celebrate the Aboriginal Academic Achievement program. The gym at Chief Peguis Junior High School (1400 Rothesay St.) was full of students, staff, family, and friends from across northeast Winnipeg.

“This is a huge event for us, our school division, and our community,” Jason Drysdale, RETSD assistant superintendent, said. “Everyone looks forward to it. As you can see by the number of people here, it’s a great turnout from across the areas within our school division.”

After a grand entrance, led by an elder carrying an eagle staff, six drumming  groups from across Manitoba took turns leading dancers young and old around the gym. Colourful traditional fancy shawls moved alongside casual denim and school sweatshirts and pants, as elders and grandparents danced alongside children and young adults.

The powwow, which RETSD holds every second year, is a way for the school division to celebrate Aboriginal culture, and the achievement program. This year, it also coincided with Earth Day.
“We’re really, really proud of the work that we’ve done in AAA in our school division,” Drysdale said. “This is only one piece of it, but it’s a very public piece of it.”

“This is kind of a big event for us,” said Michaela Robertson, a Grade 12 student at Transcona Collegiate Institute. Robertson has been taking part in the AAA program since she was in Grade 6.

“You get to experience a lot of different things,” Robertson continued. “I experienced my first sweat lodge with the AAA group. I got to do my first drumming with the AAA group at TCI. We just started making mukluks.”

Robertson said that if it wasn’t for the AAA group, she would have missed out on many of these traditional activities.

“I grew up in CFS,” she said. “I didn’t get to know much about my background until I joined the AAA program.”

Maeres Kematch, a Grade 8 student at Valley Gardens Middle School, also enjoyed the powwow.
“Especially the dancing,” she said. Kematch has been taking part in traditional dance since she was five years old, and was dressed in a fancy shawl for the powwow.

Kematch agreed that the AAA program was an important one for many students.

“For kids that don’t know their background it’s really important,” she said.

“The AAA programs are absolutely integral to our school division,” Drysdale added. “It’s a way of celebrating First Nations culture, and traditions that Aboriginal peoples bring to our schools.”

“The easiest path to success,” Drysdale said, “Is by bringing the community into our schools.”

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