Students completing this series of electives shave a year off earning a professional carpentry designation if they choose to pursue journeyman/red seal designations in a professional trade school. The dual credit option in carpentry is available through a few high schools in Alberta, but only MANS offers it on campus.
Alberta Education approval came quickly because the instructor is both a red seal journeyman carpenter and a certified teacher with a permanent Alberta teaching certificate. Offered in the Bird Construction Technologies Shop with the generous support of the Ptarmigan Foundation, students in this program have job offers from the national construction company that they can cash in when they graduate from a professional carpentry program.
MANS carpentry students work on a Tiny House as part of their class requirements, which gives them experience on every aspect of home construction. The Tiny Houses find ready purchasers when they’re completed.
CBC Edmonton found more than the distinctive Dual Credit Carpentry Program at MANS’ Leon Ingraham Industrial Arts/Career and Technologies Studies Building. The national broadcaster ran a TV news feature, a radio interview, and web news feature as well as gallery feature showcasing the artistic works of students.
Native Cultural Studies
The success of our school is deeply tied to the strength of the community and ties forged by working together. Blending modern education with the richness of languages, traditions, and culture of Maskwacis, we empower our students with knowledge and self-confidence, preparing them to succeed not only academically but also as proud carriers of their heritage.
Native Cultural Studies is not just a class where Cree language is studied and traditional skills are taught. It’s a way of looking at things that cuts across every course of study. It creates opportunities to express creativity in a way that links students with their past and their elders, creating Aha! Moments between generations. It grounds them as they push traditional arts in new directions.
Every student from Kindergarten to Grade 12 learns to sew and to create a traditional piece of useable art. The Regalia Library, stocked with hides, bells and samples, inspires each student to create not just a functional item but to design a highly-personal regalia collection.
T’Angeline with modified jean jacket
Shield created by alumnus Joshua Saddleback
Every student learns to sew and makes at least one piece of regalia. Often, projects create special connections with elders and family
Welding & Automotives
Welding courses, taught in the CWB Welding Foundation Welding Shop, give students a taste of welding as an artistic pursuit as well as an industrial trade. Student work has been featured in international welded art shows in Europe and Australia, and a welded sculpture, Miweyihtowin or “Affinity for One Another,” was commissioned by the City of Lacombe and installed on C&E Trail in October 2020. CWB featured the story in its national quarterly publication, Weld Magazine.
“Through the over 450 hours that we spent building this project, we can attest that working well together is not simplistic, facile or easy. It takes work to understand each other. It takes time to understand each other. But the one thing that has kept coming back to our minds is how this represents the challenges that we face as humans. We want this sculpture to speak to the necessity of not giving up, of continuing in face of hardship and stress, and most of all coming to the end without losing what makes us human. “
–Mike Willing, Principal and co-creator of Miweyihtowin along with Tessa Potts and Eileen Firingstoney
Automotive courses, taught in a modern bay with a hoist and tools donated by the Dave & Wanita Trenchuk estate, orient teens to how cars function and teach basic auto maintenance.
Agriculture and Land Based Learning
Being “at home on the land” is encouraged through an outdoor classroom and park built by students and teachers, a week-long Outdoor School for Grades 5-9, and opportunities to earn high school credit in hunting safety and fishing.
Students also enjoy getting up close and personal with livestock and animal husbandry that cultivates appreciation for all living things. In addition to chickens and livestock, beekeeping and the Beelieve food product line provide experience with a cottage industry and entrepreneurship. An on-site garden and classes in gardening provides a basis for food sovereignty skills to take root.
Kids love the kids. A family of young goats provides amusement as well as support for students who need a break.
On-campus beehives and honey pasteurizing kickstarted the Beelieve line of food products and provide an introduction to entrepreneurship
Inspire Mamawi Leadership
Inspirational speakers, Indigenous entrepreneurs sharing their experience and tips, and integrating classroom content with real life—that’s part of Inspire Mamawi Leadership during the academic year.
Then there’s the hands-on part: Being involved in developing and bringing a product to market, like feeze-dried foods and pasturizing honey from on-site beehives in MANS’ commercial kitchen. And for the lucky and ambitious who polish their resume, apply and pass a job interview, there’s a shot at a summer job that will take them into and beyond their community in new ways as part of Inspire Mamawi Leadership—Summer edition.
From running soccer and football camps in Maskwacis to experiencing new Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Yellowknife and points between, Inspire Mamawi Leadership—Summer is a blitz of encounters that builds confidence, community, and leaders.
Chief Randy Ermineskin has held several Inspire Mamawi Leadership groups spellbound with his engaging stories and inspirational experiences with sports and education.
