Aboriginal youth program wins excellence award

By Nicole Davis

The Native Centre at the University of Calgary is being recognized for the Native Ambassador Post-secondary Initiative (NAPI) program, a partnership of the centre, the Calgary Board of Education Aboriginal Education Team and the Calgary Separate School District Aboriginal Team.

An award for advancement of aboriginal youth will be presented at the Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation’s Mayors’ Excellence Awards Gala Dinner Jan. 29.

Established just over a year ago, the NAPI program teaches aboriginal youth about their educational options through onsite school visits, career fairs and conferences, campus tours and mentoring.
In the 2006/07 school year, the NAPI program connected with 1,797 aboriginal youth through presentations in the CBE and CSSD, various rural schools (on and off reserve) and urban agencies, as well as through conference presentations and campus tours. 

The program also provides leadership skill development, positive role models for aboriginal youth in high school and also offers aboriginal students enrolled in post-secondary programs an opportunity to build on their own employment experience and presentation skills.

“In the long term, the centre hopes to reinforce the importance of high-school completion and to encourage and empower aboriginal youth to consider post-secondary as an option after high school,” says Shawna Cunningham, U of C Native Centre director.

The next step will be to train new team members in the CBE in anticipation of students facilitating the program themselves. 

The NAPI program is also sponsored by the Canadian Heritage Multi-purpose Aboriginal Youth Centre Initiative and TransCanada.