A little snow didn't dampen the spirits of students and faculty visiting VIU from Pitzer College in California - they even posed in it along with VIU faculty, staff and Stuey the Sturgeon, the VIU Mariners mascot.
March 27, 2017 - 3:00pm
The two institutions have embarked on a unique mentorship exchange program funded through the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative
Phil Brayley was many miles from home, but on a recent visit to Vancouver Island University (VIU) from his home university – Pitzer College in Claremont, California – he left saying he feels more comfortable in his own skin than ever before.
Brayley, whose father is from the Tuscarora Nation and mother is from the Cayuga Nation, both part of the Iroquois Confederacy, is one of seven students and four faculty members from Pitzer who made the trip to Nanaimo recently as part of a mentorship exchange program the two institutions have embarked on together.
“I love the infrastructure here that acknowledges local First Nations cultures – the Gathering Place, the Elders, the artwork everywhere, even the paddle pictured at the bottom of the digital event screens in the cafeteria – something so little says so much about the people here and this institution,” he says. “It makes me feel more comfortable being Indigenous.”
Now, after seeing how VIU acknowledges Indigenous cultures, Brayley is inspired to take that observation home and lobby his school for more visual representations of local First Nations cultures on campus.
Brayley’s visit to VIU was made possible by a blossoming exchange program between the two institutions that aims to share cultural knowledge and key educational initiatives – VIU is planning to implement a version of Pitzer’s Native Youth to College summer program for Aboriginal high school students and Pitzer has incorporated aspects of VIU’s Indigenous Knowledge and Portfolio Dialogue Sessions in its summer program. It also allows students to experience other Indigenous cultures.
The program was launched last fall thanks to funding provided by the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative, an education project to increase the number of US students studying in the Western Hemisphere by 100,000, and the number of Western Hemisphere students studying in the US to 100,000 by 2020. The funding will allow for a robust summer exchange program, and other chances for students and faculty from both institutions to get together.
In the fall, VIU faculty from the Office of Aboriginal Education and Engagement, an Elder-in-Residence and students involved in the ‘Su’luqw’a’ Community Cousins Aboriginal Mentorship Program went to Pitzer to begin planning what the summer exchange program will look like.
This latest visit was a chance for VIU to reciprocate the hospitality they experienced in California and continue planning work for this summer, which will include sending a team from VIU back to Pitzer at the beginning of July to participate in the mentorship training that takes place before that institution’s summer camp. A group from Pitzer will also return to VIU at the end of July to paddle in the VIU canoe for Tribal Journeys, an annual canoe journey that goes to a different West Coast First Nation community every year. The group also discussed setting up a student exchange, where students from both institutions could attend the other for a semester and receive credits at their home universities.
While here, aside from planning the summer activities together, the Pitzer group got to experience the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, which takes participants through more than 500 years of the history of Canada from an Indigenous perspective; visit a traditional Snuneymuxw First Nation territory in the Duke Point area; and listen to a cultural presentation at Shq’apthut by several Community Cousins, who explained the significance of the totems at the Gathering Place and how local First Nations protocol is observed at VIU. The Gathering Place event was filmed by the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour while it was here for an episode of the show, and attended by several high-profile community guests, including Bill McKay, Mayor of Nanaimo.
“Some of them were blown away that the Mayor would attend the presentation,” says Dr. Sharon Hobenshield, Director of the Office of Aboriginal Education and Engagement. “We wanted them to experience not only VIU, but also the culture and how we as an institution connect to that culture.”
After the presentation, representatives from the Royal Bank of Canada came to meet with the group and present the Community Cousins with a $40,000 cheque in support of the mentorship program.
“First we made it on national television, and then we were presented with a huge cheque,” says Troy Barnes, one of the Community Cousins who visited Pitzer last fall. “I think they have an idea of how much we do around campus and the impact we have. It was very special for me, showing them the Coast Salish way of doing things. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they do their mentorship training to see if there’s anything we can bring back to our program.”
Sylvia Scow, VIU’s Aboriginal Projects Coordinator, says the Community Cousins took on leadership roles throughout the visit.
“It’s been a great opportunity for them to not only step into leadership roles, but also broaden their experiences,” she says. “They’ve had a chance to see a different way of doing things, and experience the world beyond VIU.”
Scott Scoggins, Director of Pitzer’s Native Youth to College program, says both sides have inspired each other.
“Our students loved seeing the way VIU students interact with Elders-in-Residence, and it’s something we are going to tell our folks at Pitzer about,” he says. “Less than one per cent of the student population at Pitzer is Indigenous. Ultimately, we are hoping that opportunities like this will attract more Indigenous students.”
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Jenn McGarrigle, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University
P: 250.740.6559 | C: 250.619.6860 | E: jenn.mcgarrigle@viu.ca | T: @VIUNews
Tags: Student Success
