Oshki-Pimache-O-Win graduate Gloria Collins is following a unique path as she continues with her post-secondary education.

“I found out I was pregnant during the GED program,” says the Fort William First Nation band member who graduated from Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s 12-week GED program in May 2007 and gave birth to her daughter seven months later. “After graduating, I went right into the Indigenous Wellness & Addictions Prevention Program.”

Collins at first thought that she would not be able to continue with her education, but after talking the situation over with the Oshki-Pimache-O-Win staff she realized that continuing with her studies was a viable option.

“They said I could bring my baby,” Collins says. “It’s worked out really well. I gave birth to my daughter over the Christmas holidays and during the second semester I just brought her along with me to class.”

Collins finds Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s distance education model to be well suited to her circumstances; she only has to attend on-campus classes for two weeks per semester, which gives her the opportunity to complete most of her studies from home while taking care of her daughter and three older children. The community-based sessions of Indigenous Wellness & Addictions Prevention are delivered during evening classes over teleconference or the Internet.

“It’s like going to an evening class in college, but it’s from home so it’s a lot more convenient,” Collins says. “I would not have thought of bringing my daughter to college and sitting in class all day.”

While Collins described Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s on-campus sessions as intense, she enjoys the courses in the program and finds the teachers and staff to be very welcoming and the students to be non-judgmental and cooperative.

“Our group is very good in that way,” Collins says. “If anyone needs help, we give it. We have such a small group - we’re all learning about ourselves and at the same time how to work in a group.”

Now that Collins has a baby to look after in addition to working on her studies, she has had to focus her efforts on her courses, family and daughter and let her other priorities with friends and outside activities lapse for the present time.
“My daughter needs my time all the time,” Collins says. “I just focus on my family and school.”

Although Collins had been considering whether to continue on with further post-secondary education after completing the Indigenous Wellness & Addictions Prevention Program, she has decided to focus on completing the program before deciding what to do in the future.

“I know you can do all kinds of jobs with this diploma. I do like to help people.”