The Quebec Board of Black Educators (QBBE) has long been a pillar of support for Quebec students.
As the summer approaches, the organization is getting ready to kick off three of its signature programs: the BANA Summer Camp for elementary students, the DaCosta Program for high school students, and the Early Literacy Program for PreK to Cycle 1 students.
Each program is designed to address the unique needs of various age groups and foster personal growth alongside academic achievement.
BANA Summer Camp for elementary students, the DaCosta program for high school students, and the Early Literacy Program for PreK to Cycle 1 students – aim to address educational gaps, cultivate leadership skills, and create a supportive environment that fosters learning and development.
Under the leadership of its president, Alix Adrien, the QBBE remains a beacon of hope and resilience for the English-speaking Quebec Black community in.
His role, he says is to continue to empower youth to take an active and leadership role in their community through education and sports.
The BANA Summer Camp offers elementary students an enriching summer experience that balances academics with fun recreational activities. The program incorporates arts, sports, and STEM activities, along with arts to ensure students receive all-round support and equipping.
“We offer core courses of Math, English and French for students of our community or for any students that want to attend our program. And in the afternoon with concentrate on cultural, recreational and sport activity,” Adrien explains to the CONTACT.
“We do have a educational project we call STEAM it’s actually the STEM for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. But because we are people of African descent, the art component is very important. So, we added the A to this and dubbed it STEAM. So that’s why this year BANA program has joined partnership with Jam Vocal to introduce a certain amount of musical activities and to teach students. I’m a firm believer that music should be an integral part of a child’s education.”
The DaCosta Hall Program
is the QBBE’s flagship program started in 1968 and is geared to high school students. focuses on academic advancement, leadership development, and career exploration.
Through workshops, mentorship, and hands-on learning experiences, the program aims to prepare students for post-secondary education and future career paths.
Adrien notes that the program is often well attended not only by Black students but from students from different ethnicities and communities. The reason he believes is two-fold:
“The distance is convenient as it is held at Dawson which is centrally located but also the quality and content of the program is appealing to most students,” he says.
The Early Literacy Program, designed for PreK to Cycle 1 students, emphasizes developing fundamental literacy skills. Through interactive reading sessions, creative writing activities, and language games, and coding.
“Research has proven that if a child gets involved with school and early. Educators can detect learning disabilities at an early stage and help the children overcome this. As people of African descent, we know some of how our children may be subjected to biases and racism very early.
With this program we want to know that we get to them first. So that we establish to them that learning is fun. We want to provide a safe, emotionally caring environment for them to want to learn to read, write and work on numeracy skills and at the same time develop a sense of pride for their community,” he adds.
The coding aspect has been added as it has been widely reported that artificial intelligence (AI), is going to replace almost 50% of the work force in the next 15 years. The way Adrien sees it at the QBBE they want to get a head start in preparing their students to develop the skills they need to survive in tomorrow’s world
As the summer approaches, the QBBE is gearing up to welcome students to these transformative programs, ready to inspire, educate, and empower the next generation of leaders in Quebec and across the world.
