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2020 Valedictorian
Nipissing Site
Darlene Ackerland Native Community Worker: Traditional Healing Methods 2020 Valedictorian
Aanii Boozhoo
Noondoahwazhe-Mukwa ndizhnikaaz, St Charles Do-dah, Atikameksheng Anishnawbek ndoonjibaa, Mukwa Dodem. My Anishinaabe name is Voice of the Bear, my English name is Darlene Ackerland, I live in St. Charles, Ontario and my community is Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, and I am of the Bear Clan.
Dory Days! – What a ride it has been. Why Dory Days? Well Dory has calmed my anxiety before entering classes and heading into exams! Some of you will remember me coming in to class singing “Just keep Swimming!” and that I did! So, thanks Dory! But Dory wasn’t my only support, to the teachers (you know who you are), friends I’ve made and staff at AEI who helped me in my journey a huge Chii- Miigwetch!!! Without you all I never would have made it through! I cannot forget the Nookomis’ that tended our classes, made us cry, made us laugh, gave us the teachings that we needed. But for me mostly, they gave me huge support by accompanying me to the Smudge room to lift me back up at my lowest moments (come to think of it, that room reminded me of the Cheech n Chong movie Up in Smoke at my worst times (LOL Just kidding).
Chii-chii-Miigwetch to Virginia, Dorothy, and Dot, you all hold a space in my heart forever.
Congratulations to all the graduates of 2020 and 2021!!!!
If there is one thing that I’ve learned in Anishinaabe Culture, there is no goodbye, but a simple see you later or we shall meet again. So, to all the Graduates, Staff, Nookomis’, and everyone that I’ve met during my stay at AEI,
Baamaapii ~until we meet again~
~Just keep Swimming and Always Paddle Your Own Canoe!!
2020 Valedictorian
Munsee-Delaware Site
Good Afternoon graduates of the Anishinabek Educational Institute.
To begin, let us acknowledge and give thanks to our first mother, Mother earth, and all that she provides to sustain us.
I give acknowledgement to the land on which we gather today, the traditional territory of the Leni-Lu- naape-Munsee-Delaware Nation, the Anishinaabe- Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and the Haudenosaunee-Oneida Nation of the Thames.
Boozhoo esteemed instructors, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, Mentors, Shkaabewis’, faculty members, all staff of Anishinabek Educational Institute, family, friends and especially to my fellow graduating class