An early childhood educator in Terrace is one of three in the province to receive a BC Aboriginal Child Care Recognition Award next month.
Once a year, the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society recognizes outstanding ECE role models who support First Nations and Metis language, culture and traditions — and this year, Kermode Friendship Society’s Lucie Theoret will be recognized.
Theoret has been working with the society’s Aboriginal Headstart Program (AHS) for the last 14 years. The program in Terrace is one of 12 urban AHS preschool sites in the province.
She was nominated for the award by Jenn Dolen, regional coordinator for the Success by 6 program. Theoret had been her son’s caregiver at Headstart a few years ago.
“I see Lucie out and about raising funds and awareness for the Kermode Headstart Program. She’s great with kids and seeks out extra resources for the kids who need them, and she’s always a support for the parents when they need it,” says Dolen.
Theoret has worked with generations of children by driving the bus in the mornings to pick them up, settling them into a routine and teaching them the Metis language. Charmaine Anderson, the Aboriginal Headstart Coordinator for Kermode, says that Theoret truly embodies the face of the program.
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“What really hit me is we went to a community, New Aiyansh, to go to a workshop up there and there were children,” Anderson “When she got off the bus, she had kids coming and running to her, ‘Lucie, Lucie! It’s Lucie!’”
“The child was probably twelve or thirteen years old, and it was someone she had in her Headstart program when they were four. And they still remembered her.”
When Theoret first heard she won the award, she said she was taken by surprise and couldn’t contain her emotion. Her coworkers describe her as a humble person who rarely talks about her achievements, but this award has helped Theoret to realize the impact she’s made on the program.
“I just started crying like a real baby!” she says with a laugh. “After they talked to me, I said ‘you know what guys? I deserve it.’”
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Theoret says she really enjoys her position and believes her consistent presence and involvement has created a safe, comfortable learning atmosphere for the children. Now, she sees some of her former students coming back to enrol their own children with the program.
“Some come and tell me, ‘My son will be here in two years, I hope you’ll be here!’” She says that if they don’t get rid of her, she plans to be at the program “forever”.
“It’s so nice to see that.”
Theoret will head to Richmond, B.C. next weekend to receive the award on Nov. 3.
brittany@terracestandard.com
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