N’Swakamok Native Alternative School celebrates 25 years

In its 25-year history the N’Swakamok Native Alternative School has helped more than 300 Aboriginal students get their high school diplomas.

The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres started the school – and two similar institutions in Londond and Fort Erie – to address the high drop-out rate among First Nations students.

“They weren't doing very well in the mainstream schools,” said Kelly-Lee Assinewe, who has been the school's co-ordinator since 1997.

Assinewe said the alternative school focuses on the students as a whole, addressing their mental, emotional, spiritual and physical needs.

The school also helps many of them learn about their culture for the first time.

Students start by taking an Ojibway language class, and there are also courses on native studies and Aboriginal beliefs.

“When they come to our program they start to learn about who they really are,” Assinewe said.

Many students, she said, learn to understand the lasting impact the residential schools had on their parents and grandparents, and why those experiences made them weary of the mainstream school system.

Recent graduate Wendy Hayward said the N’Swakamok Native Alternative School allowed her to learn at her own pace.

Hayward went to Lasalle Secondary School and Sudbury Secondary before dropping out of high school.

“Regular high school wasn't really for me,” she said.

She graduated from N’Swakamok last year and is now considering going into the trades.