New educational centre opens on Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation

Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation is investing in its education for a better future.

The Saskatchewan community unveiled its brand new education centre on Thursday, which it hopes will provide a better future for some of its young men and women.

The newly minted Chief Long Lodge Education Centre aims to provide new learning opportunities for young members of the community.

“We face a lot of hurdles as First Nations Peoples,” said Carry the Kettle First Nation Chief Brady O’Watch. “So as leadership, we want to be able to provide an environment for them to come and participate, share, and not only just learn about the Western education but also incorporate a lot of the traditional aspects into it,” he said.

The Centre will provide men and women aged 16 to 21 who have not completed their high school education, to obtain their Grade 12 diploma, which is an important step for these students to further their education.

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“I’m actually thinking of going to university for business,” said Chief Long Lodge Education Centre student Cheryle Francis. “I’ve been thinking about starting my own business, I’m not sure what about yet, but I’ll get there as I go,” she said.

Carry the Kettle leadership wants the centre to help these young adults develop the necessary skills to succeed in their future careers.

Carry the Kettle First Nation director of education Bob Kowalchuk said, “We’re really doing a continuation or extension of where they left off in high school. So they’re coming back with a sense of passion and a sense of purpose in life to be able to build a better future for themselves.”

The vision of creating the educational centre took three years to come to fruition and everyone involved with the process was excited to finally see the hard work realized.

There are also plans in the works for the offering of post-secondary education in the future, as Carry the Kettle Nakota Nation Coun. Conrad Medicine Rope explains.

“I’m not a small-minded guy, I want everything so we’re going to push for every program that we can possibly get here. When it becomes a Nakota College, I hope that I’m still around because I would sure like to see another ceremony,” he said.