(Transcript of Live Interview)

Lyle: Welcome! You are currently students at Mamawi Atosketan Native School. And Jade, you were the captain of the volleyball team? And you are also an honor roll student! So you have really high, good grades?

Jade: Yes, over 80%

Lyle: How did you get so efficient and smart in school?

Jade: Honestly, since Grade 5 I’ve had anxiety about my tests so I’d wake up at like 6 in the morning and start studying for tests that didn’t really even matter for my future. So I’ve been doing it forever. I don’t know why I care so much about my grades but they are always coming first for me.

Lyle: Wow, that’s awesome! (Audience Applause) Are you excited about going into Grade 12?

Jade: Yes and No. I don’t want high school to end. I’ve loved it a lot, especially at Mamawi.

Lyle: How’s the new building been?

Jade: I love our new building! I think it’s brought us all close with even the younger kids. Like we all go into the gym and we all play a game of volleyball or something. And it’s brought us a lot closer with more teachers. Last year I didn’t get to meet very many because we were in the portables, but this year we are all in the same building so I got to meet a lot more.

Lyle: And you’ve made some great friends, I assume?

Jade: Yes, my best friends.

Lyle: Who’s your best friend right now?

Jade: Shaneek and Tessa.

Lyle: So, Tessa, you received an award recently?

Tessa: The Caring Heart Award.

Lyle: And that was given to you by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada through Mamawi. Now why did you receive that award?

Tessa: Cause I’m caring…

Lyle: Good answer! Now your mother – you help her with certain events, helping trauma victims. What’s that experience been like?

Tessa (looking at Jade): It’s kind of sad. 

Jade: It gives her a lot more empathy for everybody she helps [when] she hears their stories.

Lyle: Wow. So you just have a really big heart for people. How’s your experience at MANS been?

Tessa: I love it! I love Mamawi! It’s like family to me. I’ve been there for so long.

Lyle: Mamawi is like family – did you hear that Church?! What’s one of your most favorite experiences that you remember at Mamawi?

Tessa: Being in Total Praise Group – the sign language group.

Lyle: Were you one [of the students] who got to travel across the States [to Washington, DC]?

How was that experience?

Tessa: It was my first time going on an airplane – that was nerve wracking, scary!

Lyle: Well, ladies and gentlemen, you have a product of SDA education right here. (Audience Applause) Jade, I hear that once you finish high school your plans are to attend Burman University. Tell us a little about that before you go.

Jade: I never knew there was a school like Mamawi. Everybody’s so close together and you always have help there no matter what. When I think of university, I think of something like the U of A. There’s huge classes, everybody’s not connected very well. You don’t know your teachers very well. And the way Burman was explained to me, it feels like a bigger Mamawi.

Lyle: Wow! (Audience Applause) Thank you so much for being on the show – it was a pleasure to interview you.

* Interview abridged. The entire interview can be viewed in the video section.