Thank you for targeting towards parents! Parenting is hard and doing while pursuing higher education is even harder! I began my college journey back before my first child was born and then stopped right after he was born. That was 10 years ago! I have now returned 3 years later on a different path. This time is it much slower and that is because I need a full time job plus caring for these guys! I recently became pregnant with my 3rd boy and holy man that was a tough semester working full time, caring for two other and being very pregnant! I however made it through!! Woman are just amazing. There is no doubt children impact is while attending school, but they are the very reason I returned to school. They helped me discover myself and what I want in this world. I feel unique in that I am passionate about where I am and where I’m going. How many people get to say that?! My focus is indigenous language revitalization, specifically the Ojibwe people of northern Minnesota. I grew up on the Fond du Lac reservation, but I wasn’t culturally raised. My grandma spoke fluency but didn’t pass on that language to her children because there was this idea that was instilled in native communities that the English language is superior. This spread all over native communities and languages are lost or dying. The thing about language is that culture is intertwined and that is our identity. Once I began my language learning I discovered pieces of myself and feel a sense of place in the world as before just walking around lost. This is exactly what I’m giving my children.

Boozhoo, my name is Beshigonebiik. I am from the Fond du Lac reservation in northern Minnesota. I have been pursuing an elementary teaching degree at UWS for the past 3 years so I can become an Ojibwe immersion educator. My passion has been indigenous language revitalization, but it has not been easy getting to where I am today. The path has been exhausting, but absolutely beautiful. My passion stems from my children, beginning when my eldest son entered Ojibwe immersion as a kindergartener. I have since joined their team as a paraprofessional full-time and then enrolled as a student at UWS in an effort to support the greatness that comes with learning one's indigenous language. I have witnessed the beautiful outcomes of the students who have entered the Misaabekong Ojibwe immersion program as they learn the native language of this land. For the first time in my life, I have seen the gathering of communities. Children from diverse backgrounds become families. Through the language, culture shines. Although I am from an Ojibwe background, I did not grow up with this opportunity to learn my culture. In these immersion classrooms, the students are being given opportunities to learn who they are, cultural beliefs, and traditional knowledge. We are mothers, fathers, and elders in this program, like a traditional Ojibwe community bringing important values and seeing students excel like no other classroom I have witnessed. This is my passion but one that I see changing the greater communities for the better. Uniting both the mainstream majority white population with the indigenous people of this land. There has always been this division of differences in perspectives, but through this program in a public school, families are uniting. The children become so close, like siblings and that brings the families together. As the program expands, this community connection will only strengthen.