The Class of 2026 at Victor Thunderchild High School was the largest class in school history.
The grad class held their graduation at King George School on Tuesday. With a class of 22 graduates, the former Won Ska Cultural School has grown significantly since changing their name.
Miley Eninew was named the recipient of the prestigious Victor Thunderchild Legacy Scholarship. Eninew said that coming to Thunderchild changed her.
“When I first came here, I was a very mad kid,” Eninew said. “I was like a bad kid, actually. But they were super open. They didn’t rush me to do anything I didn’t want to do.”
Eninew completed Grade 9 at Carlton before transferring to Victor Thunderchild for Grade 10 and was “super happy” she made the choice. Her old Grade 8 teacher was teaching at Thunderchild, and principal Gina Sinoski has known Eninew’s family for a long time.
She also liked how small the student body was.
“I didn’t like being in a big school,” Eninew explained. “There’s so many people. It was way easier to skip classes at Carlton and be a bad kid. When I started coming here, it made it almost impossible to skip.”
This year Victor Thunderchild has the most graduates in the history of the school with 22 graduates.
“That’s surprising because last year there wasn’t that many, but now this year there is,” Eninew said. “A lot of people started transferring to the school and that’s honestly a good thing. I like that our school’s evolving. There are more people wanting to come here.”
Eninew said that graduating made her feel accomplished.
“I actually felt so proud of myself for that,” she said. “The school was mainly a part of that, they helped me a lot.”
One aspect that she liked was the teacher’s close relationship and hands-on instruction.
“They took the time to sit down and talk to me and explain it to me word by word,” Eninew said.
Eninew said she is proud of all of her fellow graduates.
“I didn’t expect there to be that many graduates here. I thought there’s going to be six or seven of us. But then more people started coming and more people wanting to finish. They were pushing people in the good way.”
Retiring Victor Thunderchild Principal Gina Sinoski said that in 2025-2026 the school has been thriving.
“I feel we turned the corner when we had our renaming,” she said. “Victor is well known in our community. He stood for something in education, and we try every day to stand for the same thing. That made our community look at us as a first-choice high school.”
She said that parents and students started talking about the school as a place to attend.
Another aspect, Eninew said, is that students felt like they belonged. Sinoski agreed.
“That’s one of the things we need to build relationship,” Sinoski said. “We need to make them feel like they belong. We need for them to feel like they have a voice, but we also must have high expectations because when a grad graduates from here, they need to have the same opportunities in post-secondary.”
She said that the school offers what students need and the name change to Thunderchild opened them up as part of the community. Sinoski said that other high schools in the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division started to point students who would fit in their direction.
“Kids need to find their fit,” she explained. “They need to find where they belong.”
Sonoski has had a pattern of teaching or being administration at schools with similar values in her career such as Riverside, Queen Mary and Wesmor.
“Those were all schools that need to start with you start by building relationship with the community and letting the community families, parents, kids know that you’re welcome here, you’re safe here, you can trust us,” Sonoski said.
Sinoski said that she is proud of all 22 graduates at Victor Thunderchild.
“The staff has worked so hard, the kids have worked so hard (and) this is the year we have six kids that are our first high school cohort,” Sinoski said.
A high school cohort is a group of students who all achieved all of their high school credits at the same school according to the Ministry of Education’s definition.
Sinoski said because the school has grown and finds ways to support students and meet their needs other schools steer students to them.
Sinoski said her replacement Tracy Bloomquist will continue her philosophy as far as Victor Thunderchild is concerned.
“Yes, but the person who’s coming in after me, I feel she has the same philosophy as me.
She is a First Nations woman, Tracy Bloomquist and Tracy and I are really good friends.
We went to SUNTEP together. I know Tracy and I feel like she will grow it,” Sinoski said.
Sinoski could have retired last year but wanted to complete her four years at Thunderchild.
“When we think of Indigenous culture and our ways of knowing and growing, everything is in seasons of four, right? This was my fourth year and so now I can move on and someone else can take it and grow it.”
Eninew has future plans to eventually go to school.
“I want to go to school to become an addictions counselor but right now I’m just taking a gap year, a little break for myself,” Eninew said.
She also just moved to her own apartment and is working. She said that she did not expect to graduate at 17.
“This experience at this high school was very good for me. I loved it here. I became a happier person. I came out a happier person,” Eninew said.
Paige Sinoski was the emcee while Elder Liz Settee delivered the opening prayer. Mayor Bill Powalinksy brought greetings from the City of Prince Albert.
Zhoni Laliberty received the First Nations Insurance Scholarship and Grace Bennett received the Governor General’s Award.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
