The Circle Education

Salt Spring Island celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD). This year’s IWD theme is Inspire Inclusion. Leading up to IWD on Friday, March 8th, here are some opportunities to learn about how we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all inspire inclusion. Like every year, women are well represented at The Salt Spring Film Festival (March 1-3 at the Gulf Islands Secondary School). There’s no shortage of films about women, plus more than 50 percent of the films are directed or co-directed by women and twelve of the twenty film guests are female. Opening night stars Aitamaako'Tamisskapi Natosi Before The Sun. An intimate and thrilling profile of Logan Red Crow, a young Siksika woman in the golden plains of Blackfoot Territory, as she prepares for one of the most dangerous horse races in the world: the Indian Relay. On March 7th, The Salt Spring Island Public Library hosts, in collaboration with the Canadian Federation of University Women, the screening of “The Ma…

On December 6th, 1989, the day that fourteen young women at l’École Polytechnique in Montreal were killed by a gunman as a deliberate act of violence against women, Quinn Mulherin (21, she/they*) wasn’t born yet. She learned about the tragedy years later when she attended the memorial as part of The Circle Education’s Pass it On Program. Unbeknownst to her, it gave direction to her future life path; choosing Gender Studies as a way to shape her professional career and as an advocate for equal rights and opportunities for women. The December 6th Memorial was Quinn’s introduction to what happened in Montreal, and gender-based violence in general. “All the Pass it on Girls attended the memorial that year, it was super cold, and I remember there was a large turnout from the community. I did a bit of my own research and it definitely triggered my interest in gender equality and advocacy”, says Mulherin who is in her fourth year of the Women and Gender Studies program at UVIC. …

Gulf Islands Secondary School has partnered with The Circle Education, IWAV and Salt Spring Community Services for its first-ever Consent Awareness Week. Consent is vital to many aspects of life, and is essential for young people to form healthy, respectful relationships. Responding to calls from students, GISS dedicated its first Health and Wellness Day of the new school year to consent. “We are supporting the ‘High School Too’ Movement, which advocates for policy, protocol, and education change so that all high school students understand that consent comes first,” explains GISS vice-principal Stacy Mitchell. Research shows that 15% of girls and 9% of boys between the ages of 14 to 21 have had a sexual act forced upon them by a peer (Taylor et al., 2019). Moreover, in a school climate survey, many 2SLGBTQIA+ students (58%) identified being sexually harassed in the past year and 13% reported that this harassment occurred often or frequently (Kosciw et al., 2020). Lang…

The Circle Education is launching its ‘party awareness week’. By sharing stories about the ‘party culture’ on Salt Spring Island, we want to give some attention to the harmful risks youth could face while growing up in a small, rural community. For years, we have listened to young people in our community about how they crave and seek out entertainment and risks. “The reality is that there is not much to do for youth on the island and, barring other healthy options and opportunities, some will turn to drugs and alcohol. And we all know that teenage brains are not great at avoiding harm, even without those substances,” says facilitator Kate Nash who has been working with teenagers on a weekly basis for more than ten years. In addition, The Circle Education is sponsoring Island’s Health P.A.R.T.Y. Program at GISS. The P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth) Program is a one-day injury awareness and prevention program for youth aged 15 and older. In this…

Monday marked World Mental Health Day, a day to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental wellness. Although more and more people are opening up, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health. Willie MacPherson is not afraid to share the challenges he encountered in his youth. “I am privileged in many ways and by sharing my story, I can be the bridge to people who don’t have so much backing and allies.” People tell Willie MacPherson often that he is brave to tell the story of his past; a time when he didn’t know how to cope with daily life and fled into addictions. He sees it differently. “When I was ill, on medication, addicted, morbidly obese, and holed up in my room, I remember how people treated me and it is in stark contrast to how people treat me now. I am celebrated when I share my story, but it takes a lot more courage to do the same for people that are still in the middle of it or don’t have the …

The Circle Education is excited to launch a podcast series created by youth, for both youth and adults who are interested in hearing what young rural islanders have to say about the different realities and issues that are of interest to them. The name of the podcast series is Juvenoia, defined as, “the fear one generation of adults holds towards the younger generations succeeding them”. “We thought long and hard about a name for the podcast,” says Maggie Naphtali, a Grade 11 student at the Gulf Islands Secondary School and one of the podcast makers. “I think Mischa Emiliano came up with the name and I think it is a great fit. In our podcast series, we want to address and dismantle the misconceptions that older generations sometimes have towards youth. We share our opinions and let other generations know what we think; to show them that we have similar values, but each with our own perspectives.” The Juvenoia podcast, which will be launched on April 21st, contains four epi…

The new school year has started and The Circle Salt Spring Education Society is gearing up for their Pass it On programs. New this year is the collaboration with Bullock Lake Farm for the Pass it On Boys program. Pass it On is a safe and trusted space to develop core skills in the area of healthy relationships such as trust-building, acceptance, active listening, and boundary setting. The Circle is excited for the new partnership with Bullock Lake Farm for the Pass it On Boys program. This collaboration will offer participants the opportunity to explore concepts of care, independence, leadership, and responsibility for themselves and others through hands-on, farm-based activities and projects.  Using a new delivery model, The Circle’s Kate Nash will lead a team of mentors, including local farmers, a filmmaker and some senior youth to take participants along the journey of an impactful curriculum in support of self-development. “Bullock Lake Farm offers a playful and dy…

As another school year comes to an end, The Circle Salt Spring Education Society would like to thank all of its members, donors, and funders for their unwavering support over the last year. Everybody has felt the highs and lows of this past year as we all navigated the challenges of the pandemic. The Circle was fortunate to discover the silver linings of COVID-19 and be able to continue providing its social-emotional programs to youth in the community. The organization adapted its traditional delivery of programming to an innovative online platform that, for many teachers, proved to be more powerful. Says one teacher, "I love the interactive aspect of the video delivery—I didn't expect it to be so engaging for my students. Another perk is the flexibility of timing—I could fit the program anywhere into my weekly schedule. It was fun and super relevant." You may have noticed that The Circle rebranded a year ago. When the program facilitators noticed that the challenges stud…