Hi, my name is April Marie Beaulieu. I’m 22-year-old person from Behchokǫ̀, Northwest Territories. I’m a participant of Northern Youth Aboard, with the Next program. I have a reason why I said ‘person’ and it is because I’m a genderfluid person. 

I applied to be a part of Next back 2019 and was about to travel in 2020, but then the pandemic happened, and I was put on hold for two years and had short time to fundraise but I still made it happen before travelling to Ottawa. This is my second time being in Ottawa since 2018, when I travelled with the Canadian program. 

I’m thankful to be a part of NYA this year because I always wanted to experience life at college before starting to apply and head to college in 2023. I enjoyed my time living at Algonquin College and living in the residence with a roommate. I’m getting used to the city life, for example, taking the bus, trains, walking around downtown and how to budget. 

I did struggle in construction class, but before this I did not have knowledge of power tools, measurements and making a doghouse. However, I did learn by watching the teacher, taking it slow and fixing my mistakes. Knowing the doghouses that we are building will be donated to another organization, I’m happy and proud of myself with the work I’m doing and contributing to a good cause. I was also struggling with the heat since it was something I’m not used to or the tons of walking in one day. 

During our free time, we get to explore the college campus and the college square which is an area full of stores. I’m already getting my way around this campus, maybe considering it to be the college I go to for upgrading next year. I’m gaining new skills because of this program and also learning about other Indigenous cultures. 

With NYA Next, this does help me feel and get ready for the future when I go into further education. My goal is to go for upgrading but also to a college to be an educator for children. I hope when others apply to this program, it will help them know what they want in the future like I know what I want to thanks to NYA.  

Mashi Cho (Thank you), 

April Beaulieu