 So it's called I Hope I'm pronouncing it well. It's ojitun ojipianjie, also known as built from within It's we're targeting students in high school We start recruiting them in grade 10 first of all To who then they'll enter the program in grade 11. So what we do is identified students that are academically bound for university that have an interest in wanting to be teachers and so they apply for the program they go through an interview process and once selected we you know map out their coursework and Now the first cohorts just started and they're at the university We're actually Winnipeg adult ed education center. So their house there is a group in the morning they're taking EA courses, so they're gonna become an educational assistant They'll graduate high school with their educational assistant certificate as well as their high school diploma So right now they're most of our having to take math courses like those Because they need like the applied math when they're in the education program at UW for the integrated degree And so once they're done there, they'll be It's final semester they go back to their homeschool. So they actually will graduate at their homeschools and then In the following September, we roll them at University Winnipeg. It's a cohort part-time or actually be full-time We haven't Mapped out all the how the course gonna work But we know they're gonna do a major in history and a minor in English will be there and they'll be geared towards the K-to-6 stream for their while their teaching practicum stuff like that and They'll work part-time as an educational assistant for the school division and we're going to be pairing them with Master teachers so that they learn how to you know be an effective teacher in the classroom, right? And the goal the plan is to move them around a little bit. Probably we haven't decided exactly How it's gonna look but it probably you know, maybe either a semester or a year within a school Then maybe switch schools, you know, we'll have 30 up to 30 per year in the program And so there's two cohorts that are in the product project. So we have the first court started now Yeah, then they'll get that experience. They're actually gonna finish their five-year degree though in four years So it's a bit of an accelerated program now the a pro EA program actually gives them 12 credit hours at the university level So they'll have a little bit of a head start when they do go in but they'll also go for intercession So they'll be in university from September to The end of June everything is paid for so they have all their tuition They'll get a bus pass They will be earning a little bit of an income as an EA So it'll be enough to probably not live independently, but you know, certainly enough to Either somewhat shared accommodation or living with family kind of thing, right? And then after they're done the B8 or the teaching degree we will be They can apply for The job that they're most interested in so we don't have spots picked out of course yet for where they'll be But they'll they'll be guaranteed a term position with my pay school division And our hope is that they'll give us minimally five years, but we're hoping that they will be a lifelong Teachers with the school division. Maybe one day be a superintendent or something like that, right? So it's exciting. They the first cohort started this last week And so I got to spend a week with them as a group At we pick out all dead center and so they're they're looking forward to it and And then they've been showing up every day minus 30. So it's really great to see them In the age groups, yes So we the maximum like we it's targeted for the grade like that they would enter in grade 11 We did open it up to grade 12 last year. So we have some that have graduated but max age is like 1920 something like that So 16 I guess would be the 16 to 20 that group there Of course, yes, so we're looking for them to become teachers and we want to reflect our society, right? So we know that the digits population I believe is between 10 to 15 percent in Manitoba and We want our school division to reflect that and it is not there at this point, right? So I knew where I grew up I went to school in a reserve and When I started there were the there was a couple of indigenous teachers But I know now when I go home is probably at least 50 percent are indigenous teachers and many of them from the community Working there. So kind of want to strive to get sort of that kind of reflection in our own schools here Yes, so that we doing one this like one is actually started this year and currently I'm actively recruiting for next year They will start so what happens is they start in February with the EA program So they'll start now to the end until June that it ends in like the first week of June the EA program And then they finish up their high school credits And we'll do some like summertime is a good time to kind of do some land-based education that kind of thing So we'll do some of those more activities Seminars in the spring and then they'll come back in September They'll be still at WEC the same cohort now and they'll finish by December They'll finish their EA certificate and then we'll still do some more seminar stuff We have to do like CPR nonviolent crisis and those kind of things that will finish up with them in January because that's they'll need those things to get their their final EA diploma and Then once they're done they go back to the schools Then we have the second cohort will start in February as well at WEC and they'll do this They'll repeat the same thing and then that's in that September the first cohort will start University Well, the first second cohort is still at at Winnipeg adult ed in their EA program And so and then again the second cohort repeat the same thing And so you'll have two cohorts going to your reverse Winnipeg at the same time the pilot is What's on the books? The goal is of course to keep it going. I don't know if I don't know if it's Right now it's not it's not scheduled to start a third one right after the second tour are done So it may be a little bit further down the line. I'm not too sure And I'm my role right now. I'm I'm in three years So I want to see where after that my three years where I end up Because I'd like to be around to follow them, but it may not be the same capacities I'm doing quite now might be something a bit different Well, I know we do want some more applicants So if there's anyone watching that has students in Winnipeg school division make sure they tell their tell their children to look at our program and just to Go out and take advantage of education opportunities because it does open a lot of doors We want our students to see Uh Themselves reflected in their teachers somewhat right so we want to I want to see that and that we want also our teachers Not only to be indigenous, but to actually bring a perspective like so because a lot of indigenous people are Don't necessarily have connections to their culture all the time. So We want to incorporate that into their Education path that we're having for them that they will learn different ways of incorporating Um, there's Perspective perspectives into the curriculum into the classroom. I'm making a normal part of the day rather than okay today. We're going to you know Talk about this indigenous group, right? But you know, I know like when I worked at my previous job Uh, the math teacher was trying to do things that just made it um Incorporating math ideas from indigenous perspectives into the math class where sometimes I think we kind of relegated to A history course or maybe even an english course because we teach a certain book or something like that, right? So I want to try and make it a bit more holistic Um, so that you know your frisads your math social studies science all these things that there can be An element of an indigenous perspective in it Well, uh, this program I've been right now is going to be for the next six or seven. So I'm I'm really looking forward to Um Seeing the students progress through this and graduating and of course I'd like to see if it happened again that it becomes not just a pilot project but something that we We continue doing and next time we're considering, you know ideas about um Because right now it's limited to the english history majors, right? So it kind of gives you that primary school, but maybe next time focus a more high school stream and have like that science or Other other science math option, you know Because I think I had a few applicants for like I really want to do the science math at high school versus the lower kids And so they were kind of on the fence if they want to do this program, you know So I told maybe see it opened up more so that Um, it's not just relegated to the primary grades now in matatoba Once your teacher you can move it to anywhere in the k-12, right? So you're not necessarily restricted to that but um And yeah, I'd like to see that the that the school division is not only want to pay school division But all I want to pay that you see more aboriginals engaged In the school system so that we get better outcomes for our people that start graduating at higher numbers And start entering different professions