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Goals are set and fulfilled at Nokee Kwe, a native learning centre on Dundas Street
LITERACY: Beating adversity a common goal

Kelly Pedro Sun Media

November 17, 2008

Norman Jones was getting into a cycle of trouble that landed him in jail, causing him to miss a lot of school.

Members of a literacy program Glen Henry, left, Norman Jones, Gina Schuyler and Talon Doxtator spend time learning at Nokee Kwe, a native learning centre. The small office on Dundas Street near Talbot Street is often cluttered with students.

Gina Schuyler was a young mother who dropped out of high school to raise her son.

Glen Henry struggled with math.

Talon Doxtator's friends were dying or doing drugs.

They have one thing in common: They've become success stories of the literacy program at Nokee Kwe, a native learning centre.

The small office on Dundas Street near Talbot Street offers big dreams.

It's cluttered with students who spend most of their days there, learning and taking prep courses with tutors.

"A lot of students that come here face challenges," said Betty Anne Stoney-Shankar, literacy program co-ordinator at the centre.

* * *

Jones was running with the wrong crowd before he found Nokee Kwe.

Trouble. Jail. Missing school.

"It was a constant cycle," he said. "I saw my life was going nowhere really fast. I had to make drastic changes in my life or I was going to be with my friends in jail or in the ground."

He moved in with his grandmother near Parry Sound. He went to school and got a heavy machinery licence but couldn't get a job because he didn't finish high school.

The jobs he got didn't pay well.

"I decided I had to go back to school to get a higher-paying job," Jones said.

He found Nokee Kwe and has since finished the prep course. He hopes to get his General Educational Development (GED) certificate, the equivalent of a high school diploma, soon.

"Before I was looked down upon because I didn't have my GED. I don't want to be looked down on any more," he said.

Jones plans to go to college in January and take graphic design.

* * *

Schuyler had two goals: Get her driver's licence and her GED.

She left high school after her son -- now in kindergarten -- was born. But she wanted her son to take school seriously, so she decided to do the same and enrolled at Nokee Kwe.

"I don't want my son to see me sitting around the house not working. He won't have the motivation," she said.

Schuyler is raising her son through Longhouse traditions at Oneida First Nations, which involves spiritual ceremonies that last three to six days. She said the native learning centre understands the need to attend the ceremonies and that has been invaluable.

"At any other mainstream school, if you said you had to go to a ceremony for three days, you'd fall behind and get grief," Schuyler said.

* * *

Henry is studying at a healing lodge at Chippewa of the Thames First Nation.

He spends a week every two months learning about his culture.

He was at the healing lodge one day when a teacher was talking about education.

"He was looking straight at me and I knew he wanted me to go to school," Henry said.

He wants to be a heavy machine operator after he completes Nokee Kwe's program.

When Henry arrived at Nokee Kwe, Stoney-Shankar said, he struggled with adding and subtracting.

"He worked on it and we set him up with a tutor. Now he's really excelled at math and doing well," she said.

Henry said the extra help has given him confidence.

"I feel good because I accomplished something I wasn't able to do before."

* * *

Doxtator wasn't motivated to wake up at 5:30 a.m. every day to catch the school bus.

But he found his motivation when his son was born.

"I want him to grow up and have a better life than I did," he said.

When he dropped out of school, Doxtator was surrounded by friends who were dying or doing drugs. When he came to Nokee Kwe, he left those friends behind and moved on with his life.

"This program helped me change my life," said Doxtator, who got his GED in September. "I feel I'm one step further to accomplishing my goals and taking care of my family the way I want."

Doxtator is waiting for funding so he can start college in the spring. He wants to be a licensed carpenter and one day own a construction company.

Kelly Pedro is a Free Press reporter.

E-MAIL: Kelly Pedro

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