News “The Youth Are Our Future” Aboriginal Mentoring Project Underway By Tara Marsden Aboriginal students from UNBC and College of New Caledonia (CNC) are hoping to decrease the drop-out rate of Aboriginal high school stu- dents and encourage post- secondary education through the pilot Aboriginal Mentor Project. The program match- es post-secondary Aboriginal students with Aboriginal high school students to offer sup- port, encouragement, role modeling, and resources with the primary focus being on post-secondary education. The program was initiated through a working relation- ship between CNC and the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council as a follow-up to previous efforts aimed at decreasing the drop-out rate of Aboriginal students. Project Coordinator Joan Brett explained that several years ago various workshops were offered to help students explore education options, overcome barriers, and learn how to set goals. The response was great, and they found that the students want- ge ed to go beyond the work- shops, to be involved in something ongoing. From those expressed needs, the Aboriginal Achievers Team was established and offered ongoing workshops for about a year, and again the stu- dents wanted more. This is what sets this project apart from many other initiatives aimed at Aboriginal Youth: it is a direct response to the expressed needs of the youth themselves. Furthermore, the high school students par- ticipation is completely volun- tary in the project. These two factors are good reason for optimism for the success of the pilot. Mentoring initiatives elsewhere have proven suc- cessful, and have yielded the following results: Based on a 1995 Impact Study, young people with mentors were: - 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs - 27% less likely to begin using alcohol - 53% less likely to skip school (Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America) So what exactly does a men- tor do? The roles and responsibilities of a mentor were discussed and ideas were brainstormed at the training session for the men- tors a couple weeks ago, as well as listening to what the students hoped to get out of the program. This session set out some basic parame- ters for the mentoring rela- tionship, but ultimately each pair will decide what activities they will do. However, at the heart of these activities is .a healthy balance between the physical, intellectual, emo- tional, and spiritual elements. So far activities ranging from hockey games, to museum visits, to attending sweat- lodges have been discussed, in addition to each student shadowing their mentor through a day in post-sec- ondary life. The mentors and the students will meet once or twice a week, for the duration of the school year. According to Brett, the response from UNBC stu- dents so far has been very good, “everybody seems excited about it, and eager to share their university experi- ence”. Most of the UNBC stu- dents learned about the pro- gram through the First Nations Centre, which has been supportive of the pro- ject. Many of the UNBC stu- dents involved are hoping to go on to be high school teachers, or work in some capacity with youth, so this project provides a great opportunity to expand on their skills and get direct feedback from the students. Another goal of the mentors is to attend and present at the RETAIN (Retention in Education for All Indigenous Nations) Conference _ in Oklahoma next year. If the pilot is successful, Brett would like to see the program continue, with improvements made from the feedback of all involved. More pictues on page 5 Desmond Johnnie (right) and Ambrose Denty (left) smile for the camera while they learn to mentor to youth Retraction Over The Edge realizes that it was in error printing the letter to the Editor in the Volume 7, Issue 4, October 23, 2000 tiled Get Real NUGSS. This letter appeared on page 5 and was submitted by Elaine Stevens. We apologize to Eric Anderson, Oliver Ray, and any others who this letter directly attacked without principle. Over The Edge also realizes that the letter on the bottom of page 5, submitted by Art Jory Photo contributed Oliver Ray challenged MP Dick Harris to sign a contract to transfer all of his pension earnings to pay down the national debt. Dick Harris was absent. Photo taken on October 31st. (Halloween Day) Oliver was voted to have the scariest costume of all - A Politician. -Kevin Milos and Lisa Brzezinski is outdated and apologizes for not catch- ing this error. In our defense Over The Edge really needs editors and staff who are willing to commit themselves to improving the overall quality of the newspa- per. Outdated equipment is also a culprit and we are cur- rently pursuing the Northern Undergraduate Student Socity for equipment upgrades in lieu of being given funding in our 1999 publication year. input. Over The Edge believes that retracting these two articles is in the best interests of the stu- dents of UNBC and we will be printing any aritcles which were pulled along with the retracted letters in this issue. Enjoy! Sincerely, Editorial Board Over The Edge Newspaper Over The Edge needs your If you can blink you can help!