Hometown: Saskatoon, SK
Program: Educational Assistant certificate
A friend with kids the same age as hers led Jennifer Peever to the Educational Assistant program. “They had taken the program a few years ago and love the job,” she says. “I knew that if I were to go back to work after being home with my kids, it would have to be a flexible job that would work with our family’s schedule. Being an EA is a perfect fit for my lifestyle right now.”
The Summer Transition program got Jennifer off to a good start. “I’d been out of school for 20 years, so having an introduction to all the supports available in case I needed them really eased my mind,” she says. “Playing Kahoot and Cree bingo got my heart rate up, too.”
Jennifer credits Learning Services for much of her academic success in the program. “The in-class portion was a blur of essays and note-taking, and the fall disappeared in a blink,” she says. “All the things I didn’t even know I was absorbing came back to me for the practicum. There’s no better way to put your learning to the test than to be added to a team where there’s an expectation you will do your part.”
A work placement at Westmount Community School was a dream come true. “I knew I wanted to work at Westmount before I applied to the program. It’s the Michif school in Saskatoon, and I was really drawn to that cultural aspect,” the Métis mother shares.
Jennifer shares her gratitude for her sponsor. “As a student who was lucky enough to be funded through the Gabriel Dumont Institute, I felt an enormous responsibility to honour my donor through academic excellence and ambassadorship as an Indigenous student. There’s nothing I can say to myself to relieve that pressure, but what I say to my students every day is, ‘just try your best!’”