Division Office ~
Pembina Hills Students Experience Life-Changing Land-Based Learning Camp
Nineteen Pembina Hills students and seven staff members participated in a transformative land-based learning camp from June 3-5, 2025, designed specifically to support Indigenous student success and cultural connection.
Deputy Superintendent Raime Drake presented details of the impactful program to the school board, highlighting how the three-day experience successfully met its ambitious goals of deepening cultural connections, fostering environmental stewardship, developing practical skills, enhancing leadership and teamwork, and encouraging reflection on identity and well-being.
The camp brought together students from Swan Hills, Barrhead Composite, Outreach programs – Barrhead & Westlock, and RF Staples, creating new relationships across the division while honouring Indigenous ways of knowing through the principles of kishkayhta – learning and knowing.
“This deeply impactful experience left all participants with an appreciation for their unique identity, and a recognition of the knowledge and teachings they bring to the community,” Drake reported to the board.
The program was built on four foundational pillars: Relationship, Respect, Reciprocity, and Storytelling & Oral Tradition. Students engaged in traditional activities, including smudging ceremonies, sharing moose stew and bannock, plant walks to identify traditional medicines, trapping demonstrations, and participating in talking circles and reflection sessions.
All participants earned high school credits in Environmental Stewardship, First Aid, and Land-Based Learning, with students completing Standard First Aid Training with CPR before the camp began. The holistic, student-centred approach emphasized learning from Elders and Knowledge Holders while fostering connections to place and community.
Superintendent Cooper expressed his gratitude to Mrs. Drake for her leadership in organizing the event, noting that it represented “a culmination and celebration of what we can do for Indigenous students” through the division’s partnerships and relationships with community groups. This work is a direct result of the Métis Education Services Agreement that the division has with Rupertsland Institute.
The success of this year’s camp has already inspired planning for next year’s program, which will incorporate bison teachings, continuing the division’s commitment to Indigenous education and cultural preservation.
The land-based learning camp reflects Pembina Hills’ ongoing dedication to providing meaningful, culturally responsive educational experiences that honour Indigenous knowledge systems while preparing students for future success.