Burnaby School District

The drum was a reward to the group of students from grades 8-12 at Alpha Secondary who are from Burnaby School District. Squamish Nation Elder Ketximtn Alroy Baker, Cultural Student Ianna Lewis, and Indigenous Education staff have been hosting them weekly. It was not easy to earn the drum since both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth have been attending local drum protocols for some weeks before receiving them. The students have learned the importance of commitment, cultural education, and respect since they were chosen carefully and committed to local drum education and made a drum to keep. These drums require taking care of them as if they are alive, which was taught to them by the local drum community members. The students made a commitment to take care of their drums and were taught how to play them. The students were shown how to respect the drum and care for it so that the school community could learn from them. This was achieved by showing song and dance to the school community, which enabled them to learn the many ways to employ drums to communicate and share local knowledge. This experience is very transformative for the students since some of them come from marginalized families who have not had the privilege to learn the local way of life.

Mixed reviews of the facility. While the new building is stunning and is a wonderful learning and working environment, there are underlying issues. The building got different reviews based on whether personal experiences or previous work-related ones based on the building. A resident who felt that the staff beat them up was uncomfortable due to the revelations. But from a professional viewpoint, one can easily pass the facilities. Most of the housekeeping professionals work tirelessly to upgrade the structure to support the mission of the organization. However, it is still not accessible from the mainstream public transport, which is a challenge for new users. Two reviews report that the school reg process is straightforward and convenient. So when the building is evaluated, the expert reviews seem to have a good report of the building due to the positive experiences and positive environments that give memories of their students. The most disappointing issue is the location off the standard transportation routes.