COTE FIRST NATION — Chief Gabriel Cote Education Complex (CGCEC) has welcomed several new staff members for the new school year, and during the school’s welcome-back barbeque on the 25th of September, they were introduced to the parents and attendees of the event.
One of the new staff members, Jolene Finlay an education assistant, expressed their excitement about joining the school. She had a background in health care and noted that this shift to education was a learning process. She did not anticipate a career in education initially but was eager to embrace this new opportunity.
When asked how long she had been in the education system Finlay said, “My whole life, but I say that because living is an education process.”
Another new education assistant, Alexandra Cote, mentioned that she had always aspired to work in education but didn't expect it to happen so soon. Having just completed secondary education, she expressed her willingness to explore this path further and gain valuable experience.
Cote said, “I didn't think it was gonna happen so soon. I just went to school this past June. I'm hoping to see if being an EA goes well for me then maybe go for being a teacher.”
Zach Mysko, a physical education coach from Yorkton has been to CGCEC twice now. He’s been helping the students during physical education classes and sports games. When asked if he’ll be helping out during the upcoming hockey season he said, “Most likely, sounds like it.”
When asked how he got into the career he said, “Someone with YTC (Yorkton Tribal Council) just messaged me and was like, hey, we need someone and you have everything we need. Do you want it? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. That sounds cool. I've always wanted to do this sort of thing.”
The school also has two new teachers, Susan O’Soup and Malaysia Brass. Malaysia Brass is a new teacher starting her first year teaching Grade one students. “For the first, I guess five years of my career, I want to just teach whatever grade it may be. So I'm in grade one right now, but hopefully, I’ll make my way up the ladder to the older grades. Eventually, I want to get into ed. psych. so I can do some counselling. I went to school, and I couldn't really figure out what career path I wanted. I had a few years of teaching, so I thought that I would go ahead with that and then branch off into the psychology world.”
Susan O’Soup is a new teacher in CGCEC who has been teaching for approximately 20 years. She recently moved into the area from Mission, B. C. to be able to visit her family. O’Soup said, “After the school year was done in Mission, I moved back here with my husband and we live in Canora.”
“I moved back here to be close to my grandson Peter O’Soup, but he's in Winnipeg, my son Steven and daughter Kaylee live in Winnipeg. So that's why I came back here. I'm just filling in for a maternity leave. And then probably next year, I'll work part-time or I'll retire.”
