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FNMI Youth Summit encourages empowerment

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Nearly 100 students from Kainai, Piikani, F.P. Walshe and St. Michael’s joined Matthew Halton students during the fourth annual FNMI Youth Summit on Wednesday to share stories and discuss plans for the future.

Miranda Van Loon, a Grade 12 student from MHHS, has attended a number of FNMI Youth Summits.

“The summit allows FNMI students from different school divisions to relate and connect while learning to have positive relationships through empowerment and leadership,” Van Loon said.

“Today out of all days allows you the opportunity to share your stories, learn from people who have gone before you and to learn the success that those people have had and the trials and tribulations they’ve had to overcome to become successful so that you, yourself, can have some of the goals and guidance as to where you want to go,” superintendent Dave Driscoll told the students.

“We look forward to a great day, we thank you for coming and we wish you all the best.”

The theme for this year’s summit: “Empowering the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow.”

Eric Crow Shoe, Piikani Elder, offered the traditional prayer of blessing before the events of the day unfolded.

Before his prayer, he told the students education is vital for having a good life. Crow Shoe recalled his elders’ advice that was given to him; “try hard, keep trying hard.”

“I dropped out of school in Grade 8 and chose a life of my own,” he said. “I suffered. I didn’t make the right choice.”

Keynote speaker Dwight Farahat — a recent Mount Royal University graduate, social worker and rap artist — offered words that echoed Crow Shoe’s sentiment.

Growing up, Farahat didn’t have it easy. He encountered racism and stereotypes and fell into a life of crime when he was 14. Stealing cars, smoking drugs and drinking excessively, Farahat had little hope for his future.

“I always thought I would die at 15-years-old,” Farahat said. “I remember saying this out loud, ‘I will only live until I am 15.’”

“There is a law in psychology that says if a human being has some picture of who he or she is going to become and can hold that picture long enough, he or she will become it. But, the thing is, you have a choice of what picture you want to hold.”

He recalled getting drunk and taking drugs as early as Grade 6. Farahat said he was committing break and enters and stealing cars and by the seventh grade he possessed a firearm.

“What I was doing; I was running to my friends and I was trying to fill this big empty gap by doing bad stuff,” he said. “We didn’t know how to love each other and we didn’t know how to love ourselves.”

Three days before his 15th birthday, Farahat and two friends stole a vehicle and robbed 7-11 for cigarettes.

“We were drinking and driving a stolen car and all of a sudden in the back I could see cherries flashing. The police were behind us.”

The driver looked to Faraht and asked if they should stop for the police, or outrun them.

“This question was really important to my life because it shows the commitment to our emptiness; it showed our commitment to our false pride; and it showed the commitment to our hopelessness,” he said.

As they attempted to outrun the police, they crashed into a pole. Farahat suffered from broken bones in his legs, massive cuts to his face and concussions.

After he was able to walk again, Farahat left home and wound up in a group home where he encountered his future role model: a social worker. Since then, he has graduated from Mount Royal University’s social work program and works with youth that he said often remind him of himself.

He said school was no easy feat and there were numerous times he considered leaving. Farahat said he felt he wasn’t smart enough or good enough, but he wrote himself a letter saying, “I refuse to let paragraphs, words and letters beat me.”

“It’s incredible what happens when you put your intentions into words,” he said.

Following Farahat’s powerful words, the students attended “breakout sessions” around the school to learn more about career options and college choices from a number of representatives from the local community and its neighbours.

Farahat taught three breakout sessions as well; social work, overcoming negative beliefs and how to write a song.

The day wrapped up with a reflection activity and a traditional dance.

cclow@postmedia.com

@echo_cclow

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