Dear Editor,

On Dec. 11, 2009, the Palkumten Council from PSS held its annual Aboriginal Youth Success Forum at the Pemberton Community Centre. All Aboriginal youth from PSS were invited to participate.

The main objective of the forum was to get ideas from the students on what Aboriginal activities or programs they would like to see happen at PSS that would assist them in their academic goals, sharing their culture and bringing students together. PSS has students from five First Nation communities: Lil’wat, N’Quatqua, Samahquam, Skatin and Xa’xsta.

The youth began their forum with lunch, then an icebreaker and then began discussions regarding the many different topics they were interested in. These topics included after-school homework club, sports clubs, culture clubs, field trips to postsecondary recruitment fairs, student exchange trips, language and culture in the school. Throughout the afternoon there were several door prize draws, donated by the local Pemberton businesses.

With the support of Juanita Coltman, District Aboriginal Advisor and myself, Aboriginal Student Support Worker, the students decided to put their focus on having an after-school homework club, after-school support group and after-school culture club.

Earlier in the week, I went around the town of Pemberton to seek sponsorship of door prizes and I was overwhelmed at the continuous generosity of our local Pemberton businesses. I would like to thank the following: Frontier Street Pharmacy, Pemberton Home Hardware, Pemberton Supermarket, Pemberton Centennial Café, Pemberton McDonald's, Pemberton Small Potatoes and last but not least, the Pemberton Swiss Deli.

Thank you all very much for your donations.

Andrea Jones

PSS Aborigial Student Support Worker

Pemberton