Hard work pays off for graduate

A determined teen beat all odds when she exited the stage at Oilfields High School proudly holding her diploma last week.

After many long days of hard work, Tashena Daniels is the first female from Eden Valley to graduate from Oilfields High School in 25 years – and she accomplished it in just two years of high school.

For her efforts, she was presented the Most Improved Award at the Black and Gold Awards ceremony two weeks earlier.

“It feels really, really good,” she said of graduating. “I was really surprised that I got most improved because I didn’t think I would get an award that big.”

Daniels initially attended Chief Jacob Bearspaw School in Eden Valley, but her sister insisted that she transfer to Oilfields High School in Black Diamond at the beginning of her Grade 11 year.

“My little sister wanted to come here and she didn’t want to come alone so she asked me if I wanted to come with her so I said, ‘yeah,’” she said. “I was nervous and excited. It was a new school and I didn’t know anybody.”

At Chief Jacob Bearspaw School, Daniels was working within a curriculum where students receive a certificate rather than a diploma. As a result she had to complete three years of high school in just two years.

“The teaching style is different,” she said. “In Eden Valley they mostly give us our work and let us do it on our own.”

With the help of her teachers at Oilfields High School, Daniels pushed herself hard and got extra help at lunch and after school when needed.

Living so far from Black Diamond, she had to wake up at 6 a.m. to be ready to catch the bus at Eden Valley’s health centre by 7:20 a.m.

No matter the challenge, Daniels met it head-on and said neither her family nor her friends were surprised at her determination.

“Since I was little I really liked school and went every day,” she said. “My uncles and aunties and my mom knew that this day was coming for me because I just loved school.”

What might have surprised her friends and family is that the student Daniels became at Oilfields High School was quite different than in Eden Valley.

“Here I barely talk to anybody, but at Eden Valley I talked to everybody and it got me distracted,” she admitted. “I’m really loud and outgoing. I was the loudest one, but here I wanted to be different, quieter. Here I’m more focused.”

Daniels said her friends in Eden Valley even commented that Chief Jacob Bearspaw School got a lot quieter after she left.

While Daniels’ teachers and peers at Oilfields High School didn’t see that side of her in the classroom, they did on the stage. Among them was teacher and guidance counselor Paulette Morck.

“Her confidence grew in the two years going from being this meek and mild tiny voice to be the Queen of Hearts this year in Alice @ Wonderland, bellowing out these lines and being a real presence on the stage,” said Morck, referring to the school’s musical last fall.

Daniels shined both on the stage and in the classroom, but Morck admits the latter wasn’t as easy for her.

“She struggles with her education and mostly she struggles with her attendance,” she said. “There were times when her attendance would fall by the wayside and we wouldn’t see her for three or four weeks and were like, ‘oh no, we lost her.’ It’s quite typical that we lose First Nations kids because they don’t have the support. When we have someone like her who is getting so close the adults in the building care quite a bit and will do everything that we can to push her.”

Morck said the reasoning for poor attendance can range from the length of walking students have to the school bus pick up in frigid temperatures in the winter to an expectation for some teens to stay home and babysit younger siblings and relatives.

For Daniels, Oilfields High School teachers formed what they called “Team Tashena Daniels” to help her reach her goals.

“She’s got a lot of adults in this building that are very much on her side – teachers who have worked with her in one or two classes,” she said. “There were lots of pep talks – ‘don’t let anybody bring you down.’ She wanted to be here, wanted to do her best. She had to work for her marks.”

With high school now behind her, Daniels is ready to take the next step and has her sights set on directing movies.

She plans to work for a year and apply to the Adam Beach Film Institute, a Winnipeg training facility for Aboriginal youth interested in pursuing a career in the film industry.

The institute was founded by First Nations actor Adam Beach, who has been in several movies including Cowboys & Aliens.