Katimavik students bid adieu

Julien Trudel-Jette has been volunteering at HPE as part of the Katimavik program. He will be missed by students and staff.

Mac Olsen
South Peace News

The video clips showed the nine Katimavik youths at their zaniest, such as the parody of the shark attack in ‘Jaws’, with humming and in-your-face, shaky camera moves to match. The video clips were shown during the open house at the Katimavik residence Jan. 15. The High Prairie work supervisors and billet families attended. “This was a thank you to the community, to show them what we’ve received from their work and efforts,” says Hébert, the new project leader. He also says these youth grew personally during their three-month stay. It was a two-way street for them, as they gave to the community and received back. They also received reference letters from their supervisors. Later, each youth - Marie-Maude R. Beauvais, Josée Cyr, Victoria Kirkconnell, Neha Marwaha, Taylour Nembhard, Jocelyn Sullivan, Julien Trudel-Jetté, Matthew Ward and Karra Wittig, - talked about what they gained in High Prairie and thanked their supervisors and billets. Trudel-Jetté was assigned to High Prairie Elementary and he worked in the library, gym and other areas as required. One thing he did was improvisation with the students and added comedy to his routine, which made them eager to participate. Trudel-Jetté, who is from Montreal, wants to speak English fluently, but he had the challenge of dealing with many English accents. “It’s important, working with children, to develop a positive relationship with them,” he says. “It was challenging at first because there were so many English accents, but I was able to overcome the language barrier through the support of co-workers and the community.” Trudel-Jetté wants to be a facilitator for special events like street festivals. Marwaha, who is from Toronto, says coming to High Prairie was a shock at first because she never lived in a small town before. However, she appreciated the opportunity to come here because it has made her more self-reliant and she enjoyed the camaraderie of a small town. “I just loved the community and how giving, welcoming and generous everyone was,” Marwaha says. She wants to be a teacher and was assigned to Prairie River Junior High. She helped students in the Social Studies and Language Arts courses, coached the boys’ basketball team and worked with the drama students. Marwaha never worked with students in this age group before and she was hesitant. However, she loved the school environment after she started working with them. She thanks the teachers and support staff for their patience, advice and guidance. Marwaha was eager to learn about Aboriginal culture, such as hunting, trapping and fishing and had the opportunity to prepare her own traditional meal. Nembhard worked at the High Prairie Friendship Centre and the High Prairie and District Food Bank. She liked interacting with the centre’s clients and found the office tasks a little daunting, but her supervisors helped her through them. Dayna Charrette, the group’s former project leader, says she has heard only good things about these nine youth and they’ve had a positive influence on their peers. “They should be proud of themselves,” says Charrette. She no longer works for Katimavik, but now lives in High Prairie and is exploring career options. This group left High Prairie Monday and the second group was supposed to arrive Wednesday.

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