Zooming for the Community

Submitted by Kelly Stickle, Guidance Counselor, Mamawi Atosketan Native School

The doors to all Alberta schools have been closed since March 16 due to COVID-19, yet teachers have been finding ways to instruct, engage, and teach. As the school counselor at Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS), my mandate is to find ways to support our students during this crisis.

Kelly Karius, another counselor working in Maskwacis, contacted me after seeing one of the videos on the Mamawi Atosketan Native School Counseling Department Facebook page. She suggested we work together and provide a live, online presentation for Maskwacis students. The idea sounded intimidating, though interesting. After taking a few days to pray and think it over, we met online to plan a presentation. We wanted to help the youth of Maskwacis cope with the effects of isolation and stress, and do it in a way that offered them a chance to socialize a little with friends they aren’t able to see now. Ms. Karius suggested using the framework of the Seven Sacred Teachings common to all First Nations: Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Wisdom, Humility, and Truth.

We advertised the “event,” and on April 28, we were joined online by seven Maskwacis community youth. We had a great discussion, though we didn’t get around to playing the online games we had planned. Students who are usually reserved and quiet in classrooms were comfortable talking and sharing in the virtual setting. The “reviews” have been very positive, and we are planning to make this a weekly meeting. An especially surprising outcome of our presentation is that one of our usually reserved and quiet students, all on her own, took the initiative to create a private Facebook group for MANS students and staff “for checking up on each other, chatting, and sharing things and updates about our school and such.” We are now being referred to as Kelly2! The U.S. Marines’ slogan is to improvise, adapt, and overcome. God is providing the means to improvise and the ability to adapt, and He will overcome. The support of your prayers will help us reach and support more Maskwacis youth.