Last Friday, The Siksika Board of Education (SBOE) unveiled its new logo to celebrate 35 years in the community.

According to Christopher Scout, the Board of Education made the call to create the new logo.

"They wanted to include a student voice in the celebration in a big way."

The SBOE operates four schools and various programs.

When the Siksika Nation took over the educational system in 1989, they started with two schools serving approximately 725 students from K-12.

As the SBOE grew, they expanded and renovated facilities to better serve the community.

Notable milestones include the opening of the Siksika Nation High School in 1996, the Storefront School in 2009, and the Siksika Outreach School in 2011.

These expansions have enabled the SBOE to serve around 1,500 students with the support of over 185 dedicated staff members.

Over 80 submissions were made for the new logo.

"From students on the nation and off the nation. And those submissions went through a vetting process with all of our staff, and then the board made the final selection at a board meeting," says Scout.

According to Scout they told students to ensure they included their beliefs and what's important for education, something that helped tell the story and connected to culture when creating the logo.

"The logo was designed and created by a talented grade 6 student from Chief Old Sun School, Dane One Runner. This is his last year at the elementary school, and he is very excited that he won."

It was shared with One Runner beforehand that his logo had been selected.

"We worked with him to digitize the logo and prepare it for the unveiling. Then, we invited his family, members of our board, the community, and the entire school to participate in the unveiling ceremony."

Scout said the school was over the moon for him when they learned he had won.

"They were screaming, clapping, and cheering. It was incredible to see him come up and be so excited."

A ton of activities are being prepared to launch the 35-year anniversary.

"We are going to start putting a call out for any previous alumni of the Board of Education that includes staff, students, and anybody who is part of the board in any capacity in terms of governance, leadership, who submit some of their stories, some of their artifacts." 

Scout said they want to tell their story at the celebration in October. 

"October has been designated the official kind of 35 commemorative celebration."

 The event was blessed by Elder and Horn Woman, Wilda Yellow Old Woman. 

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