Convocation audience members will notice something new at this year’s celebration: a thoughtfully designed stole, featuring geometric patterns and traditional Indigenous symbols. It’s a new initiative from NAIT’s Nîsôhkamâtotân Centre to celebrate the accomplishments, and culture, of Indigenous students. The idea was suggested by Kaitlyn Menard, an Indigenous Liaison Specialist.
“We had the means to do it, the resources, and it’s been heavily supported NAIT-wide,” says Camille Louis, manager of the Nîsôhkamâtotân Centre. The team went to their cultural advisor Lonny Potts for help thinking of a word they could use to represent the journey of Indigenous students. After a tobacco offering, Potts suggested the Cree word wîwahowak, which means ‘gather your things.’
“In a historical context, it means to pack up your camp and go to the next camp,” explains Louis. “So, you’re moving on from NAIT, but we’re blessing that as well.”
To bring their vision to life, Louis enlisted Travis Masyk, one of NAIT’s graphic designers. Masyk has collaborated on other projects with the Nîsôhkamâtotân Centre, so he felt he had a good understanding of what the vision was. Masyk is also Métis, and he said working on projects like these is “an honour.”
“Two years ago, I worked for a startup, and we all got let go. Just bought a house, just had a baby. And not too long after that, my wife was also let go from her job. So, it was a very dark time,” he explains. “But if I could look back and see what I’m making now, I don’t know if I’d believe it.”
“It’s a lot of pressure, in the right way … it’s very personal, and I’ll carry it with me and always be proud of it.”
And it’s not just Masyk that feels that excitement around the stoles — Louis says she couldn’t have anticipated the campus-wide reaction to the stoles.
“We have a purpose at the Nîsôhkamâtotân Centre of celebrating culture … and letting the Indigenous students know that they are celebrated, that they’re valued, that they matter, that they’re important.”
“The magnitude of this is bigger than I imagined it would be. There’s a lot of excitement across the NAIT community and the students in particular are really excited about it.”
For Amber Duffield, the Indigenous Student Council at NAIT’s vice-president operations, the stoles are a mark of possibility for other Indigenous youth and students to show that post-secondary education is possible for them.
“When I graduated high school … the city recognized that there were so few Indigenous students graduating that they formed the Indigenous grad celebration,” Duffield shares. “We still see that today, like there’s so many students dropping out of high school and never getting into post-secondary.”
Census data shows that more Indigenous people are attending and obtaining post-secondary credentials, but still, “educational attainment lags behind that of the non-Indigenous population.”
These students face additional challenges accessing education, like lack of funding or access to post-secondary, personal or family responsibilities, racism and discrimination along with the lasting effects from residential schools.
“To have NAIT recognize the Indigenous students who have moved past those struggles and are now walking across with trade certificates or bachelor’s degrees is so impactful to not just the younger generation, but also mature students.”
Students can grab their stole during graduation gown pickup outside shop at NAIT or in the Shaw Theatre lobby at the following times:
- June 8 – June 10: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- June 11: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
- June 12: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- June 13: 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Stoles will also be available for pickup at convocation.
And for those not graduating this year, there will be future opportunities to represent their culture as they cross the stage — Louis called the stoles “a continuing project.”
“We have a purpose at the Nîsôhkamâtotân Centre of celebrating culture … and letting the Indigenous students know that they are celebrated, that they’re valued, that they matter, that they’re important,” says Louis. “We have ordered enough [stoles] for the next couple years, and we’ll reorder as we need, but again, it’s something that we want to continue for the future generations.”
Feature image via NAIT Content Collective
