A unique and beautiful gathering space is getting a lot of use from students at Skyline Alternate School in Williams Lake.
Vice Principal Heather Auger said the idea to create this special circle located between the school and the School District 27 Office came about rather quickly.
“Grant Gustafson, the District Principal for Indigenous Education, and myself got together and talked about the need for an outside place to gather and this is what was decided upon. The students have really engaged in the space, we have a grow tower where they are growing flowers to decorate the space.”
Auger said all Secondary schools have a gathering space, which her school is, however it’s smaller in scale because of it’s location.
“Everyday before we end school we go outside and check in at the circle and use it as a how did your day go kind of thing. The first reason for creating it was to have a ceremonial gathering place to hold a smudge and then as we continued on we’re finding the use of the circle to be healing,” Auger said.
From the initial plan with the contractor until completion was around 6 weeks.
“They started the end of February and was finished to greet the Skyline Alternate Students when they returned from Spring Break,” Auger noted.