GCCHS Student Wins Provincial Award

Please join Grande Yellowhead Public School Division and the communities of Grande Cache, Victor Lake, and Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in recognizing Grade 10 student Brianna Chowace for receiving one of the twelve provincial Honouring Spirit: Indigenous Student Awards. The Honouring Spirit: Indigenous Student Awards recognize First Nations, Métis and Inuit students who model strength and
commitment in the pursuit of their personal education path and embrace their own gifts, strengths and potential while celebrating the ways of their people.

Brianna is a diligent student who is determined to do well and graduate, and displays all the attributes of the Indigenous Student Award on a regular basis. She makes friends easily and people gravitate towards her exuberant personality. She is kind and respected by her peers. She is always there for a friend in need and is a role model for her peers who are going through difficult times. Brianna leads a traditional way of life hunting, trapping and fishing. She accompanies her dad Shannon, her uncles Bruce, Blaine, Josh and her great uncle Curtis on these trips and mentors under them. This summer she started learning to help with the horses. Uncle Curtis and his wife Melanie have explained the
teachings on respecting training and maintaining a healthy herd of horses. 

Brianna started making and tanning hides at the age of five with her great grandmother, Helen Hallock. She continued learning from her grandmother Kim Hallock and her mom Kristal Chowace. She is working hard at mastering tanning hides. Her grandma and her mom also taught Brianna to debone and skin the animal. She has helped prepare over 20 animals that fed people from both sides of
her family and her community. She is learning the seven sacred teachings and to identify and name plants from her grandmother Kim. Brianna participates in harvesting every year and is a big help when teaching younger ones.

Brianna attends cultural events with her family on a regular basis. When Brianna was little, she became a big sister to a little girl with many health challenges. She asked her mother “What do our people do to help people heal?” Her mom told her about the different forms of prayer, one of them being the jingle dance which is a healing dance; Brianna started dancing to pray for her sister to heal. Her sister, who was never supposed to walk, danced alongside Brianna at their very first powwow in Sturgeon Lake, Alberta. Brianna has danced ever since and has been dancing for nine years as a jingle dancer. She particularly enjoys dancing in Sturgeon Lake at their annual traditional pow wow. She also performs and celebrates her culture along with the other Grande Cache youth for many town events including Indigenous Peoples Day.

Brianna has been beading for two years and has learned from her talented mom who was taught by her grandmother. Brianna’s mom volunteered her time to teach students how to bead during flex time at the high school. Brianna just finished helping her mom complete her new beaded set for her jingle dress regalia.

Brianna is an extremely caring young lady. It is a custom to look after the Elders, and Brianna has practiced these skills from a young age. She has helped take care of her paternal great-grandma and grampa, great aunts and uncles and her grandparents. She has helped cook for wakes, funerals, feasts and lodges. For the Elders in her life, she has completed the following tasks; chopped wood, yard work, snow removal, meal preparation, unloading feed, shopping, organizing tack, caring for the horses, chasing the horses, and deep cleaning their homes. Brianna is excellent support for her
sister who has disabilities. She takes time out of each day to help Tayla reach her goals in reading,
spelling, talking and crafts. She has been Tayla’s closest friend since she was born. Brianna enjoys
being out on the land as much as possible. As you can see, Brianna is learning from Elders,
knowledge keepers and family members in her community. She is committed to passing on her
teaching to the youth of her community and her own family and children in the future.

The award is sponsored by the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) and is co-hosted by the
Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Alberta Education, in collaboration with the College of Alberta
School Superintendents (CASS), Alberta School Councils’ Association (ASCA), Alberta Teachers’
Association (ATA). 204 nominations were received. Watch the entire Honouring Spirit: Indigenous
Awards presentation here.

Congratulations Brianna!
kimahmihcihāwak kahkiyaw kiwahkomākanak.