A lot can happen in 10 years. When the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP) first got started here at the U of A way back in 2003, Jean Chrétien was still Prime Minister, Facebook wasn’t yet invented and the idea that we could one day be celebrating a successful first decade of a program that was dedicated to enabling Aboriginal teachers to receive their BEd degrees and teach in locations around Northern Alberta was just a dream, a goal that Dean Fern Snart, ATEP Program Director Evelyn Steinhauer and others dared to aim for.

According to Snart, “When the vision of ATEP took form a decade ago within the Faculty of Education it encompassed a dream of Aboriginal teachers studying and teaching in their home communities, and young students gaining role models, inspiration, and a stable teaching force in their schools.”

“Ten years hence, we celebrate the importance of our collaborative community partners as we see the dream being realized.  Graduates from the program are innovators and leaders in their schools and communities, and they are making profound contributions to our province.”

We met up with a few of those profound contributors at the conference and asked them to pause and reflect on the impact the program has had in their lives.

Are you an ATEP alumnus? What impact has the program had in your life?

Share your comments below.