Aboriginal focus succeeds in Thunder Bay school

Principal Denise Baxter is encouraged by the achievements of Aboriginal students at Ecole Gron Morgan in Thunder Bay.
“We had graduation last night, and we had a number of our First Nation students who were on the honour roll and achieved 80 per cent or higher,” Baxter said on June 28. “So when I look at the future, and I look at these kids and how well they are doing in school and how much they are learning and how confident they are in themselves, it’s really honouring to see that.”
The Marten Falls band member, who was previously principal at both the Matawa Learning Centre and the Ogden Community Public School in Thunder Bay, said the school’s Aboriginal student population is among the largest in Thunder Bay.
“Quite a number of them are my little cousins, so that is kind of nice for me and I think for them as well,” Baxter said. “We have been really working on, when we do our planning for students and student learning, to make sure we really do use a First Nations perspective or a Metis perspective through stories or artifacts or visits or visitors in or out of the classroom.”
Baxter said the school’s library has been “beefed up” with more First Nation and Metis stories and the school’s Aboriginal resource kit is in regular use.
“We’ve really been working hard to make sure the stories of our people are part of our everyday fabric as opposed to something that is just studied in a certain grade or unit because our First Nations people and our Metis and Inuit people as well are alive and well and thriving,” Baxter said.
Baxter said the school’s new Ambassadors Group of students was a success this year. It was based on a similar group at McKellar Park Central Public School in Thunder Bay.
“We grabbed students from English and French (streams), two from every class from Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8,” Baxter said, noting there was a mix of students, ranging from those who felt marginalized to those who fit in at school. “You could see a big change in how the kids carried themselves around the school. Lots of the kids wore their tags every day because they felt very esteemed.”
Inclusion was also a focus at Ecole Gron Morgan after a divide was identified last year between the school’s English and French streams.
Baxter said the Grade 4/5 French immersion and Grade 4/5 English classes met throughout the year for science class, which is taught in English in both streams.
“They had the kids working with different partners, they did team building activities,”
Baxter said. “All year long they did work together, partner work, group work, independent work, and they got to know the kids for the kids they are.”
Students were also provided with opportunities to participate in athletic events, even if their families did not own vehicles.
“One of my teachers who was coaching basketball in the fall asked if we could pay for cabs home for the kids, so we paid for a cab three days a week,” Baxter said. “So we’ve been trying to help with some of those barriers that stand in the way for our kids so they can participate in activities.”
Baxter usually checks in with the Aboriginal students on a regular basis.
“Sometimes just knowing that somebody has similar experiences in life to you makes it that much easier,” Baxter said.
This year’s graduation ceremony included a speech in Ojibwa for the Native language award by Charlotte Neckoway, the school’s Native language teacher.
“She said the whole thing in Ojibwa and then called the student up,” Baxter said. “I looked out and I could see a lot of our parents smiling because we had the French, we had the English and we had the Ojibwa as part of the ceremony. That really validates and puts the language and the culture in a place of honour and esteem and that is the picture we really want to put forward.”
Ojibwa classes were introduced as an option for Grade 6 students during the past school year.
“In Grade 6 they have the option to take either French or Ojibwa,” Baxter said. “If the students take (Ojibwa) in Grade 6, 7 or 8, then they have the option to take it in Grade 9 as well.”
Baxter said some non-native students took the Grade 6 Ojibwa course to prepare for future careers in the trades.
“They had family who worked in the trades and they really saw it as a valuable asset as they moved forward,” Baxter said. “They’re thinking of business down the road. A lot of those students were taking it in preparation for their work six to eight years from now.”
Baxter is looking forward to the upcoming school year as Darren Lentz, former Pelican Falls First Nations High School teacher and current Algonquin Avenue Public School vice principal, will be joining Ecole Gron Morgan as vice principal.
“While he is not Ojibwa, he is certainly very immersed in Ojibwa culture and Oji-Cree culture,” Baxter said.