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College holds open house for community benefits

The doors are always open to the community. Hobbema’s Maskwacis Cultural College’s annual open house stems from that philosophy.
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Teacher Linda Zerbe and students Cara-lyn Rain (centre) and Ayla Buffalo look over school work during Maskwacis Cultural College’s open house

The doors are always open to the community.

Hobbema’s Maskwacis Cultural College’s annual open house stems from that philosophy.

“Instead of being separate from the community we’re saying we’re yours, we belong to the Four Bands,” said Carla Wells-Listener, dean of academic affairs.

The college held a professional development survey asking what local organizations wanted to see at the college. Some responses included proposal writing, business communication courses, leadership and team building and more cultural aspects in the programming.

To invite the community into the school the college is holding a birdhouse building workshop that will also include lessons on the birds from a Plains Cree perspective. It will be held May 17 at the college. For more information contact Willis Littlepoplar at the Maskwacis College Library.

Another workshop is called Splash of Colour and will take March 27 at 11:30 a.m.

The open house serves to showcase to the community what the school’s accomplished over the year and allows for more transparency between the programs for the students.

“I think it helps us realize we accomplish these things,” she explained.

Wells-Listener also wanted to use the open house, March 16, to present renovations and new programs the school has.

One is the men’s literacy program, which starts the beginning of April. “(It’s) for men that have been out of school for a long time,” said Wells-Listener.

Wells-Listener says the school is in between two educational systems, the traditional Plains Cree and the western system. She wants to use the program to have the two systems blend, rather than watching them clash.

The school also offers programs in early childhood development and social work.

This June the school will celebrate and honour close to 100 graduates. “This is a big number for us. Usually we have 50 to 60,” said Wells-Listener.

The college’s library was also a highlight of the open house.

The library houses more than 40,000 books, including more than 2,000 in a prized indigenous law library.

There are adult literacy and parenting books as well as a treaties archive. “People talk about treaties but how many people know the details,” said librarian Manisha Khetarpal.

The library also boasts a vast collection of grey literature, which is not mass-produced literature and is used to develop literacy programs.

Even with the renovations Wells-Listener wants to be out of the college’s current location and in a new building within two to three years.

The new college is estimated to cost $23 million and is going to be environmentally friendly. It will also feature a theatre, gym and museum and university-sized classrooms.