Sask Polytech updating Indigenous strategies
When Saskatchewan Polytechnic alumna Chantel Buffalo walked into class for the first time, she felt secluded, like an outsider.
“It was really hard to adapt, but I was like, ‘I’m not going to let these walls intimidate me. I do want to be here, I want my diploma,’ ” she said.
Buffalo relied on the Indigenous Students’ Centre for a variety of supports while she was a student.
She believes the school’s new Indigenous student success strategy is key to making sure students graduate and move forward, she said.
“It means that we are successfully helping each other, helping the Indigenous community. It means that students aren’t alone,” she added.
Jason Seright, director of Indigenous Strategy for Sask Polytech, said they’ve seen a lot of success — increased enrolment and a higher graduation rate for Indigenous students.
However, it was time to refresh the Indigenous student strategy, since the first strategy was nine years old, he said.
“We needed to refresh that strategy — shift our focus from the things that we’ve accomplished and now, what do we need to work harder for in the next five years.”
The Indigenous strategy team has grown from six to 16 people.
In addition, over the next five years, one of the main priorities of the new strategy is to increase Indigenous content in classes.
By 2023, the goal is to include Indigenous content in all 150 programs offered, Seright said.
“In our welding program, students are given an assignment where they’re given a big sheet of metal and they use a welding torch to make a design out of that. And rather than telling the students what design to make, they leave it up to the students, they’re able to draw from their own experience. (One student) cut out a dream catcher out of metal — it’s things like that that are innovative ways to increase Indigenous content.”