Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

located just north of Ponoka,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

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, that is affiliated with the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

. The school primarily serves

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

students near

Maskwacis Maskwacis (; cr, ᒪᐢᑿᒌᐢ, ), renamed in 2014 from Hobbema (), is an unincorporated community in central Alberta, Canada at intersection of Highway 2A and Highway 611, approximately south of the City of Edmonton. The community consists ...

, and it offers a special native studies program to its students. The school is the only native school in Canada that is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church.

History

Mamawi began thanks to the efforts of an Adventist pastor who was conducting outreach to the Native people living around Hobbema, Alberta, named Basil Van Diemen. After many years, he was granted permission to open a native school at the Hobbema church, for the 1984-85 school year. Due to its unique status as a private Christian school operating on a native reservation, it could not receive funding or government grants through ordinary means, but after further efforts, funding was secured from Ottawa through the Indian Act. The school was named the Samson Adventist Private School, as it served the Samson band that was living on the Hobbema reservation. That first year, Sandra Kiehlbauch was hired as the teacher/principal of the school, which met in a room at the back of the Maskwachees Seventh-day Adventist church. She taught 20 students that first year; 100 students applied. In the years immediately following, other Adventist schools were opened in the immediate vicinity: a school to serve the Montana band was opened in 1985, and another native school was opened at Pigeon Lake, 20 miles west, in 1990. These schools operated wherever space could be found, be it an empty building or a series of portables that were shipped in. In 1992, the schools lost access to the facilities they had been using, so the decision was made to combine all of the schools into one larger regional school to serve all of the native bands in the area. This new school was named Mamawi Atosketan Native School. The school was initially located just south of the reservation, in a former public school property that was in poor condition, and offered K-9 education. As the school was now off-reservation, the school was funded entirely by tuition grants from the native bands and by offerings collected by the Seventh-day Adventist church. In 2003, the school moved to a new building specially constructed for the school. In 2012, the school received permission to expand and offer high school, making the school a full K-12 academy. One new grade was added per year, so its first grade 12 class graduated in 2015. That same summer, Mamawi began construction on a new high school building that would house grades 8-12 on its campus, leaving the old building as the elementary building. This new school building, when completed, will expand capacity at Mamawi to up to 280 students.

Academics

Mamawi Atosketan is a full K-12 academy, operated by the Alberta Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It is accredited by the

North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists The North American Division (NAD) of Seventh-day Adventists is a sub-entity of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which oversees the Church's work in the United States, Canada, French possessions of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the Bri ...

, and it is recognized as an accredited, non-funded private school by the province of Alberta. Mamawi Atosketan teaches the curriculum used by the province of Alberta. In addition, Mamawi teaches religious curriculum, as well as native studies courses to all grades.

Transportation

Mamawi operates its own school buses.

Extracurriculars

Mamawi competes in tournaments hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and in tournaments hosted by

Burman University Burman University is an independent publicly funded university located in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. It is sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second lar ...

. Mamawi competes in volleyball and basketball. Total Praise is the school's sign-language choir.

References

External links