Trent University TRACKS youth program receives $120,000 in federal funding

A Trent University program focused on empowering youth through Indigenous and western knowledge will be receiving $120,000 in federal funding over the next three years.

The Trent Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Science program — also known as TRACKS — received the sum from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) as part of its PromoScience Program. PromoScience financially supports organizations that promote hands-on learning for young Canadians and teachers.

This term, NSERC will be distributing $9 million in PromoScience funding to 96 recipients across Canada, including TRACKS.

TRACKS aims to inspire both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth to look at eSTEM fields with a cultural eye in order to highlight how Indigenous ecological knowledge is essential to their understanding and use of scientific approaches in the environment.

This is the second time TRACKS has received NSERC funding through PromoScience, the first being a $90,000 grant in 2016.

“TRACKS is extremely pleased to have been awarded NSERC funding through the PromoScience Program once again,” said Dr. Chris Furgal, associate professor of Indigenous environmental studies at Trent.

“In the past, this funding has helped ensure TRACKS’s accessibility to all students and expand its reach to connect with more and more Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth through its environmental programming each year. This new award will help continue the positive and exciting direction TRACKS is headed in.”

TRACKS is also receiving $5,000 in additional funding this year for its Science Odyssey program. The money will be used to offer hands-on workshops and drop-in events at Trent University from May 5 to 11 with the Royal Ontario Museum’s Travelling Planetarium.

The inflatable dome recreates constellations in the sky and will be used to teach participants about Ojibwe constellations, the science of Giizhigoong (the Sky World) and the Waawaate (Northern Lights).

The workshops will be available to teachers and students from the five school boards surrounding Peterborough. The drop-in learning sessions, held in the evenings and on the weekends, will include a combination of events open to all and programming that targets specific audiences on specific days, including teachers, faculty and staff, Indigenous youth and Trent students.

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