Jessi’s Story

What is a parent to do when school finishes a few hours before their working day ends?

That’s the conundrum Jessi was facing when her parents—who were watching her sons after school—passed away.

“So, I started keeping them at school with me,” she says.

Jessi is the Culture and Language Lead Teacher at IL Thomas School in the incorporated village centre of the Six Nations of the Grand River community. She helps teachers and organizations come together to help students improve their reading.

Since she was at the school already, she was able to keep her sons with her, but she says it wasn’t beneficial for either of them.

That’s when Jessi learned YMCA Beyond the Bell™ was running at the school.

“We would see them walking around the school and Keegan would gravitate towards them. He would play with them, but I didn’t really understand the group,” she says.

Seeing her son’s desire to be with the other children, Jessi got more information about the program and Keegan was soon enrolled.

In case you don't know, YMCA Beyond the Bell™ is a free, after-school and summer academic achievement program that focuses on closing the academic achievement gap experienced by children from underserved communities and low-income areas, compared to their middle-class peers.

The program combines recreation, academic assistance, nutritional snacks, and socialization activities aimed at building confidence, developing social skills, promoting physical activity and enhancing learning.

“[Keegan] enjoyed it so much because he got to work with students of all ages.”

Jessi's second son was also in the program, but both he and Keegan have grown up and aged out. Her youngest son, Spencer, still attends Beyond the Bell™.

“It was really, really supportive. I really enjoyed all the [facilitators they] had—they were community members. It was a really positive experience.”

Jessi and her family live in Six Nations of the Grand River. They speak the Cayuga language, but her family is all Mohawk Nation. They are Haudenosaunee, holding traditional Longhouse beliefs.

She says the cultural aspect of the programming is especially important to her.

“They would promote language and culture. I know my kids could see themselves [in the program].”

“I wanted [my children] to be good people and I find that YMCA Beyond the Bell™ promoted that. They really want all children to be good, well-meaning people.”

Now, at 19-years-old, her son Keegan is kind and generous. He sits on his front porch with a soft smile as he remembers what it was like to be in the program.

“I looked forward to it. I didn’t really like school much, but it was fun going to Beyond the Bell™.”

Keegan says during a typical day they would have snacks, do some sort of physical activity or game and then they would do schoolwork.

But he says the best part about Beyond the Bell™ was interacting with young people outside of his grade or group.

“It felt nice to have new faces and to interact with kids of different ages.”

“It’s the [fun parts] of school—having lunch, hanging out with your friends and running around playing games.”

Keegan grew up and went on to study social services at Six Nations Polytechnic through a partnership with Mohawk College. To complete the program, he had to do a placement, and he that brought him back to Beyond the Bell™.

“It checked all the requirements, so I did that, and I had fun with it. I really liked it for the short time I was there.”

He must have made an impression because Keegan was quickly offered a job and hired on as a YMCA Beyond the Bell™ facilitator.

And he’s lucky enough to be working at the same school where his eight-year-old brother Spencer attends the program.

During the summer the program takes the children on field trips. This summer Spencer says they went swimming, and to the African Lion Safari.

“It was fun. We saw elephants—huge elephants the size of our house! And we saw different kinds of [monkeys].”

But he says his favourite part about YMCA Beyond the Bell™ is playing games with the facilitators and other children.

As an facilitator, Keegan says he feels he makes the most impact through his cooking.  

Feeling empowered by the program, Keegan wanted to increase the presence of their culture.

Part of Beyond the Bell™ is about providing nutritional food for the students. Keegan says they would get an apple or a granola bar, but he wanted to do something more.

“I realized I could probably start cooking for the kids and maybe bring [food] in to make it a bit more positive day or to spice up the day a bit.”

By making traditional dishes like Three Sisters Soup, Fried Bread, and Indian Tacos, Keegan is teaching culture through nutrition.

“It feels good to see the kids enjoying the food I make.”

Jessi is incredibly proud of the person Keegan has become and says a lot of that is thanks to Beyond the Bell™.

“It’s showed him that he can succeed in doing what he loves to do.”

And while Keegan has brought a new level of culture to the program, Jessi feels the program itself is a positive step towards Truth & Reconciliation.

“They modify their program to meet the needs of the community.”

She says they play culturally relevant games and activities; they have a focus on language, and when they don’t have the knowledge on the team, YMCA Beyond the Bell™ brings in guest speakers to educate themselves and the children.

“They asked me to do some language lessons. It’s all of us working together and it makes it great [for the kids].”

Jessi says YMCA Beyond the Bell™ has been life changing.

“I’m very thankful that there is a program that exists for our children where they get to develop relationships amongst each other and strengthen their confidence.”

“It allowed me to work as a teacher and still know that my children are well taken care of—and it’s [free]! It’s kind of mind boggling. People are donating to [make this program possible].”

“It’s organizations like the Y listening to our children as Six Nations people. We’re working together [for our children] and it is part of that reconciliation and I’m thankful for that.” 

#Truth&Reconciliation #IgnitePotential #TheYSavesLives #ShineOn