A record-breaking 12 students graduate from Sheshatshiu Innu School in Labrador
There have been years when not one single person graduated from the local high school in Sheshatshiu in Labrador. This year, there will be a full dozen. Nykesha Gregoire will be part of the graduating class, along with her cousin, Nigel. And they'll be the first in their family to get their diplomas....
There have been years when not one single person graduated from the local high school in Sheshatshiu in Labrador. This year, there will be a full dozen. Nykesha Gregoire will be part of the graduating class, along with her cousin, Nigel. And they'll be the first in their family to get their diplomas.
Nykesha Gregoire tells Carol, "I've never been so nervous for anything in my life."
She expects there will be about 300 people at the ceremony. The whole community is proud. "I'm getting congratulations from people I don't even know," says Ms. Gregoire.
A few years ago, hardly anyone bothered showing up at school. But now there's a new building and a new crop of teachers and that's made a difference. So did the effort of the students.
"It was really hard," says Ms. Gregoire. "I have to be studying pretty much every day. I had to quit my job to study."
She plans to attend Dalhousie University in the fall and, eventually, become a primary school teacher at home in Sheshatshiu.
She tells Carol she and her mother went all the way to Montreal to buy her red graduation dress. She and her friends are planning a party for graduation day Friday.
Click "Listen" to hear Ms. Gregoire's interview with Carol.