Faculty of Art
Emma Miller worked with the Vancouver Metis Community Association and the Tansi Kiya Program to research Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and its relation to the incarceration of Metis and other Aboriginal people.
How well prepared did you feel entering into the project?
I was apprehensive at first because I didn’t feel prepared at all; I doubted what I had learned in the 300 classes that were in preparation for this class. Although, soon after starting the project I felt like I was more prepared as everything I had previously learned was being implemented and seemed to come to me like second nature.
Three things you learned from/about the organization:
I learned that there are many people out in th world who care about the well being of others. I learned that my organization (VMCA) was acaring organization that would bend over backwards to help others get back in touch with their ancestral roots and back into the greater community. I also learned that although you may encounter an obstacle that seems as though it cannot be overcome, yet with perseverance and hard work, what an obstacle had been before becomes nothing at all.
What was the highlight of the experience?
The completion of the report and knowing that all the hard work I had done and all the pushing and compromising was worth it.
What surprised you the most?
How passionate I would become about a topic that I had known little about before this opportunity.
One thing you would do differently next time:
I would try not to be so high strung and just trust what the advisors were talking about. I tried to fight for things that were not in the best interest of my project and Linc and Tanya were kind enough to let me have somethings my way and others theirs…
Advice for next year’s students:
Trust the advisors, they have more experience than you and they want your project to turn out just as well as you do. Don’t fight with them every step of the way, and if you have a problem, talk to them as soon as possible, there may be a simple solution that you just never thought about… (Oh, and watch your language in class… no outbursts! TRUST ME!)
What are you doing this summer?
I am working with a pipeline company that is laying pipe on Reserve Land (August 2005).