KO students enjoy weekend getaway

For Kevin Rae, it felt like he went home for the weekend.
In reality, the Deer Lake band member, and Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School student was attending the Nov. 5-7 weekend gathering at the SCA International Eagle’s Cove Ministry Centre near Thunder Bay.
Rae met friends and played paintball during the recent KO Secondary School Services weekend gathering.
“I like playing paintball,” Rae said. “I wanted to get away from the city for a while.”
Rae said the gathering was like going camping with friends.
He was among nearly four dozen other Keewaytinook Okimakanak tribal council students from DFC, Pelican Falls First Nations High School, Dryden and Sioux Lookout who took part in the weekend gathering.
Goyce Kakegamic, education coordinator with KO Secondary School Services, said the weekend gathering gets the students away from the city environment. It gives them an opportunity to do outdoor activities such as boating, canoeing, archery, building a campfire, taking a sauna, and playing soccer and volleyball.
“Kids enjoy that,” Kakegamic said. “It basically gives them a different environment for the weekend.”
Elder Abe Kakepetum and former DFC student Leona Rae, who has been studying Outdoor Recreation and Tourism at Lakehead University and also works with KO Secondary School Services, spoke to the students about education, career opportunities, culture and heritage.
“She had a very powerful talk,” Kakegamic said, “about some of her struggles, some of her issues she has to deal with and how she survived.”
Counselling services were also provided for the students.
“They have fun out here,” said Mclean Solomon, one of the eight chaperones at the gathering. “It’s like home for them.”
Kakegamic was impressed with the students’ behavior during the gathering.
“We were just thrilled how well behaved they are,” Kakegamic said. “They know that we are going the extra mile/extra expense on their behalf.”
Kakegamic said the lake was covered with a layer of ice along the shoreline on Nov. 6, but the students soon broke through the ice and set out in their canoes.
“They enjoy paddling and canoeing – that’s one of the cultural activities we do and they just love it,” he said.
Kakegamic said retention among the students is good but KO Secondary School Services continues to work on improving the students’ success in achieving their high school credits.
“We provide extra tutoring services in (Sioux Lookout and) Thunder Bay for the students to give them extra help,” he said. “If they don’t do well in their school work and don’t get any help, there is more tendency to go into undesirable activities.”
Kakegamic said the extra support for the KO students is a win-win situation for both Northern Nishnawbe Education Council and KO.
“It’s nice just to get out of the city, to walk through the bush and go boating and sit by the fireside,” he said. “That’s our culture.”