Celebrating Indigenous graduates at CBU
ESKASONI — Graduation season is in full swing and the Cape Breton Post wanted to highlight some of the Indigenous graduates from Cape Breton University. We spoke to four Mi’kmaq graduates about their time at the university, their hopes and dreams for what comes after and what receiving their diploma meant to them. Here are their stories:
KEESHIA BERNARD
Bernard is 24-years-old and from Eskasoni First Nation. She is graduating with a bachelor of arts community studies degree, majoring in psychology. She is the inaugural winner of the Rose Nolan Scholarship, an award to help First Nations women through education.
Bernard grew up in the child foster care system and hopes to work as a social worker in the future to help improve the system. She said she grew up in a great home but seen the gaps when it came to be assigned a non-native social worker.
“It’s very hard to communicate because you feel like they just don’t understand,” said Bernard.
She’s already enrolled on the school of social work at St Thomas University, the Mi’kmaq/Maliseet bachelor of social work program and starts in September. Bernard credits her time in the social services program at NSCC with helping her becoming better prepared as a postsecondary student. She’s hoping to set a great example for her son.
“I would be the first one graduating from school in my family,” said Bernard.
GRANT DENNY-BERNARD
Denny-Bernard is graduating with a three-year general degree with a concentration in sociology. He’s hoping to become an RCMP officer someday, but COVID-19 has slowed down the amount of paperwork the RCMP is processing during this time. Instead, the 22-year-old is focusing on fitness and always wanted a job that was more hands-on. Denny-Bernard is from Eskasoni First Nation and graduating from CBU is special to him.
“To graduate from my program, it kind of means that
I’m a bit of a role model. I enjoy that because I have a lot of younger brothers and sisters... and I like to give them someone to look up to,” he said.
MARY LOU GOULD
Gould is from Eskasoni First Nation and finished with a bachelor of arts community studies degree majoring in Mi’kmaq studies. The 49-year-old is proud to graduate because it means she is fulfilling a promise.
“It means a lot to me because I promised my father who is no longer with us now, that I would go back to school,” she said.
When she got her degree in the mail, she made sure she brought it to her late father Sydney Gould’s gravesite.
Mary Lou is currently enrolled in the bachelor of education program at CBU and wants to go into a career of teaching. She hopes to show the students that some teachers still care.
“If you don’t love children and you don’t have patience you shouldn’t be a teacher,” said Gould.
MANDY DENNY
Denny is 38-years-old and graduated from CBU with a bachelor of arts in Mi’kmaq studies. She is from Eskasoni First Nation and balanced her schoolwork with caring for her 17-year-old son, Nolan, on top of work. She spent several years as a teaching assistant in her home community helping students with special needs.
Denny draws inspiration from her own work with her son, who is autistic, and now she wants to uplift other special needs students. She hopes to see learning centres offered in the Mi’kmaw language. Denny is enrolling in the bachelor of education program at CBU continuing her goal of becoming a teacher.
“I really want to specialize with special needs at the learning centres. I’m really fascinated because of my son,” she said.
Denny hopes to help other parents assist their children with education and teaching them life skills and says it’s important to have more special needs programming in the Mi’kmaw language.