One of the region's top Aboriginal educators has now been nationally recognized.
Leona Prince, the district principal for Aboriginal education in School District 91 - Nechako Lakes, was one of the winners at this year's Guiding The Journey: Indigenous Educator Awards.
"The awards are presented by Indspire, a national Indigenous organization that invests in the education of Indigenous people by connecting educators of K-12 Indigenous students with programs, resources, and a professional learning community to improve educational outcomes, increase high school completion rates, and support sustained systemic change," said Felecia White, a representative of the Indspire agency. "The awards recognize the achievements of outstanding educators of Indigenous students who are leading the positive systemic change to education for our young people."
According to White, Guiding The Journey honourees are acknowledged for having "innovative and impactful teaching practices, advocating for resources and culturally based curricula, and helping Indigenous students reach their full potential."
Their hard work and dedication to each of their students is what will lead Indigenous youth to success at school and ultimately to becoming the next generation of leaders across the country.
"The key to reconciliation is education, and this year's Guiding The Journey award recipients are leading the way," said Roberta Jamieson, president and CEO of Indspire. "These outstanding educators are preserving our languages, developing culturally-relevant education resources, and creating safe places for our young people to be empowered in reaching their full potential as Indigenous people."
This year's list of cross-Canada winners includes Cort Dogniez from Saskatoon, Rachel Mishenene based in Ontario, Lori Pritchard of Calgary, John Elliott in Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island, Starr Paul in Nova Scotia, Rebecca Hainnu of Clyde River in Nunavut, Lisa Howell in Ottawa, Abbotsford's Kimberly Sommer, the Kehteyak (The Old Ones) Education Society in Edmonton, and Prince for her work with the Lake Babine Nation.
Prince's communication and education skills also took her to the red dot of a TEDx Talk held at UNBC. At that event, she spoke from an internal perspective on the cultural dualities and double-pressures of being of both Aboriginal and European descent. Her biography for the TEDx event explained that she was born in Prince George, lived in several small northern B.C. towns, then attended UNBC in 1996 where she completed a cross-college double major BSc Biology and First Nations Studies, graduating in 2004. She carried on to complete the Bachelor of Education Senior Years Program by 2006, whereupon she began her career in education. First she worked for School District 57 then moved next door to SD91 and also attained a Master's Degree.
The recipients of the Guiding The Journey Awards will be celebrated and their notable work described in detail at a ceremony in Edmonton on Nov. 8.
