Sharing perspectives at education symposium

The Kahnawake Education Centre (KEC) has touched the lives of most people in town - whether as a student, a parent, or a staff member. From its early days until now, Kahnawa’kehró:non from all corners of the community have been part of threading together the fabric of the KEC, and last week’s Education Symposium at Kahnawake Survival School (KSS) showed more than ever what has gone into the past, present, and future of education in Kahnawake.

“It was really, really uplifting,” said Kahtehronni Stacey, curriculum coordinator at KEC, who has been involved in organizing the event over the past year. “It was really timely because there’s just so many good things happening in education. It was really special.”

The KEC was established back in 1980, taking over from the federal government to administer education locally. In 1988, the KEC officially assumed complete control over all education services in the community, and now three schools operate under the organization: Kateri School, Karonhianónhnha Tsi Ionterihwaienstáhkhwa, and KSS.

Last week’s symposium had been an idea floated for a few years, Stacey said, with the goal of bringing together voices that have been instrumental in KEC’s history with the figures responsible for guiding the organization in future years.

Around 200 participants came out for the event, learning from more than 50 presenters about themes in education and KEC’s programming.

“For the past couple of years, we’ve really been making some notable strides in education, and seeing our staff take a lot of innovative approaches, whether that’s in pedagogy, planning, or our various departments at KEC,” Stacey said. “There’s been so much happening and so much growing, and we’re always looked at as leaders in education from our sister communities, so we felt this would be a good time to show exactly how we’re doing things.”

Programming included a panel discussion with retired KEC employees who reflected on their careers and share their successes and visions for the future of KEC, as well as presentations on cultural aspects of KEC’s curricula and pedagogical approaches to language learning.

Stacey was a part of two presentations, including one where she presented her post-doctoral research on implementing a peer group learning model for advanced learners of Kanien’kéha.

“Everything was diverse and touching on the different disciplines of our language and culture, and at the same time, it was all grounded in our vision for education,” she said. “It was about what we’re trying to provide for our students and learners so that they can really thrive academically.”

Also presenting at the symposium was KSS principal Sha’teiohserí:io Patton, who presented “Education Through the Generations,” an intergenerational look at Kahnawake’s history of education that she constructed through research into her own family’s contributions to the education system, extending all the way back to 1830.

She shared research into her own lineage, including the efforts of her great-grandmother Watshenni:ne Evelyn Jacco-Sawyer, who became an immersion teacher and a pioneer of Kahnawake’s education system.

“She was really able to bring that experience from residential school and flip the whole narrative and system for us as the younger generations,” she said. “It was really interesting to see, and to research, and to come to new conclusions about new theories and methodologies that we could be looking at.”

Both of Patton’s grandmothers, Helen Lahache and Eileen Niioieren Sawyer-Patton, were able to attend the presentation alongside her mother, Roxie Meloche, something Patton said made her especially conscious of the importance of passing down a passion for education through generations - Sawyer-Patton was a teacher, as is Meloche.

“There’s a responsibility, and I think we have to be accountable in understanding what that responsibility is,” Patton said. “We need to know who’s going to be a part of the path forward, because there’s going to be a whole new slew of issues that our ancestors didn’t even have to think about, and we need to battle those for our next generations and set them up to be even stronger than us.”

Falen Iakowennaiéwas Jacobs, KEC’s director of education, also presented at the symposium, sharing her understanding of building relationships within the education system and simultaneously building emotional intelligence for staff and students alike.

“It was an amazing day with great feedback. The energy was so positive, and people were really excited to be learning from one another,” she said.

She added that that this first edition of the symposium was a huge success, and that she hopes it could return on an annual basis.

“Any time we can bring all of our schools and offices together to learn and share and collaborate is an amazing experience,” Jacobs said. “It really did bring everybody closer together.”

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