Raymond was blessed to have special parade marshall
With pandemic restrictions lifted July 1, Raymond was able to have Heritage Day with the rodeo, concert and market.
One of the annual favourites is the Rotary Club Parade. The 2021 Honorary Parade Marshall was Jerry First Charger. Jr.
First Charger Jr, (J.J) is a member of the Blood Tribe and has been employed for the Westwind School Division for 14 years as a Family School Liaison Counselor.
His responsibilities are the Raymond and Cardston Elementary Schools. While being employed, Jerry has used his greatest talents and skills with dancing (Hoop, BBoy, and other cultural dances such as pop lockin, krump, and capoeira), and music (drumming, singing, and flute playing) as a preventative tool to help the students find and develop themselves.
School Administrators have supported his ideas with developing dance troupes, and has taken students in the past years to other school divisions and showcased these students new and continued dance and music skills. These performances have been a multicultural showcase and students of all nationalities have been welcome to participate in them and have always been well received where ever they went to perform.
First Charger’s passion for dance started back in the 1980’s as an old school BBoy (Breakdancer), and after Bboy finished in the 80’s it came back again in the mid to late 1990’s. First Charger had roommates who wanted to learn how to dance and Jerry became a dance instructor in 1998. Since then First Charger has been teaching Bboy for 23 years now. He also learned how to hoop dance in 1997 from a friend who was from Oklahoma City. First Charger took hoop dancing serious in 1999 and has since then been performing and teaching others how to hoop dance. Jerry has participated twice at the World Hoop Dance Championships first in 2001 and then in 2020. He did not place but it was a great learning experience. Hoop dancing is a powerful dance in that it teaches lessons of life thought out the dance; First Charger calls the hoop dance the dance of life. In 1993 he learned how to drum and sing his traditional native music. In 2005, First Charger learned how to play the Native American Indian Flute. While attending the U of L from 2000 to 2006 and Graduating in the spring of 2007 with a B.A in Native American Studies, he took a lot of Drama classes to develop his dancing and music skills to becoming a better performing artist. He is a professional entertainer and does storytelling to enhance his shows.
He has worked in the past for the following organizations: Part time Instructor for the Lethbridge College at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre; Red Crow Community College as a Student Counselor; Lethbridge Correctional Centre as a Native Counselor / Spiritual Advisor; Opokaa’sin as a Family Preservation Worker / Youth Mentor; McMan Youth Services as a Youth Care Worker, and the Lethbridge Young Offenders Centre as a Counselor / Mentor / Liaison Worker; minor spiritual advisor for Calgary Young Offenders Center; and was a Board Member on the Alberta Correctional Education Association (ACEA).
First Charger’s greatest strength and connection to all the youth and adults that he has worked, mentored and performed for, was his dancing and music skills. He has had many students over the years and some have taken their lessons to the next level and this has made him very happy. Dancing and music has been a major passion for him and he wants to tell all his students and their parents/guardians/ care givers, thank you for allowing him to teach you and your child, and hopes that those students will continue with dancing or find a way to incorporate what they have learned into their lives. Amongst all his accomplishments and achievements, the greatest gifts he has received are his beloved wife (Meghan) and their four children (Iipisowaahs, Jerrhan, Cyrus and Chloe).