Regina high school unveils benches to support victims of violence
- Jeanelle Mandes | January 07, 2015
Grade 10 students at Scott Collegiate have unveiled a project that they have been working on for the past three months. Students created benches to honor those who are victims of violence.
Student Keshina Paquachan says she was excited to be a part of the project and also it meaningful to her personally.
“It meant a lot because it kind of touched me in a certain way. I was a part of an abusive household,” says Paquachan who had a hard time finishing her sentence as she reflected back on her life.
She says she felt good after the project was completed and hopes the benches will help people take a stand and engage the public about victims of violence.
“Other people can see it and try stop abuse and violence,” she adds.
Tamara Smith, one of the teachers along with Ian Temple, guided the students in creating the project. Smith went travelling over the summer and came across the ‘Angels Corner’ that’s located in St. John’s. This gave her the idea to come up with the project for her students and to incorporate construction and how this can tie into the North Central community.
“I brought [the idea] back to Regina and pitched it to admin and they were really excited about it,” says Smith.
Smith and Temple hoped the project taught the students to learn outside the school walls about what goes on in the community such as violence.
“We thought that tied really closely with the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and usually that’s related to violence,” she says. “It’s supposed to be a space to honor and memorialize those women as well,” adds Smith.
She says after the class unveiled the ‘Angels Corner’, the two participating teachers and students gathered in a sharing circle to debrief about what they’ve learned.
“Students took a lot of pride in doing something for the community and many of them are dealing with issues that really hit close to home. It was actually a really emotional experience with the sharing circle,” says Smith.
The benches were made to be movable since Scott Collegiate will be getting a new school in two years. The students also made two plaques that will be on display near the benches indicating the significance of the ‘Angels Corner’ project.
For more top stories, visit our Home page. Please also visit our Missing People page for outstanding cases of missing persons.