Fort Chip grads set record

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The grads of Alberta's Fort Chipewyan college campus of adult education hit record numbers this spring and it's all because good news travels fast, says chairman Dan Creurer.

"More and more people are hearing they can do their grade 12 or equivalent in Fort Chip," he says. The school's credibility in the community has snowballed as its students tell other high school drop-outs how easy it is to finish their diploma.

The satellite campus of Fort McMurray's Keyano College handed out college Preparation and Basic Education diplomas to a record 21 graduates this spring, triple that of 10 years ago. Their total number of grads for College Preparation, which is equivalent to Grade 12, has reached 51. Ninety per cent of those are female.

Creurer agrees it's an important development in the town of 1,200. Statistics show only 1.5 per cent of Native schoolchildren go on to graduate.

There were 12 grads in Basic Education and nine in College Preparation this spring.

Dan Creurer has watched the college grow from its humble beginnings 40 years ago to this year's record enrolment of 73 students spread between grades 7 to 12. In comparison, the local high school can only boast a population of 30 students, he says.

When he arrived in 1976, the campus offered non-credit courses for pre-apprenticeship studies. Basic Education began in '81 and College Preparation followed in '86 with a total enrolment of about 24 that year. Some students can finish one grade every four months, he says.

A beefed-up advertising campaign, has also helped boost recruits but it is the campus's guidance with sponsorship, and the inevitable applications that go with it, that has made a difference.

Students seek grants to attend through three sources: Indian Affairs via the local Athabasca Tribal Corporation; Human Resources Development Canada, (formerly Canada Employment), through the local Northeast Pathways Association; and the province through Skills Development adult upgrading grants.