Dream come true: Woman from Sheshatshiu finishes nursing program using inspiration from family
As she graduated from Sheshatshiu Innu School in 2021, Stashin Penashue told the CBC she wanted to go into nursing.
Last week that dream came true as she graduated from the College of the North Atlantic's licensed practical nursing program.
"This is really important for me and for younger generations," she told CBC News outside of her graduation reception.
She said she feels she will be a role model for youth in her community, and she isn't the only one who feels that way.
Her father, David Penashue, says he believes she will inspire youth from Sheshatshiu.
Like all parents at graduations, David Penashue reflected back on his daughter's younger years. Emotions bubbled to the surface.
"It was very amazing for me, you know, it was a very good thing to see her walking on the stage. I remember when she was only just a baby and when she went to head start," he said. "Now she's graduating [to] be a nurse.
Getting to her graduation, though, wasn't always easy. But Stashin Penashue says she learned an important lesson to never stop. After deaths in her family, it took her a year longer than she had planned to finish her program.
"I had family members pass while I was in my first year, which made it very hard because it didn't just affect me, it affected my home life," she said. "Trying to come to school and learn, when my mind was somewhere else, was really hard."
Inspired by great-grandmother
The reason for pursuing nursing is because of her great-grandmother's work as a midwife, Stashin Penashue said.
"I hope she'd be proud of me, since she missed, now, two of my graduations, and I hope I can keep her legacy alive," she said. "I hope that I can do some of the things that she did."
Stashin Penashue honoured her great-grandmother by putting a photo of her on her graduation hat, worn while walking across the stage during the graduation ceremony.
"When I graduated high school, I had her painting [with me] when I was taking my photos, so I thought I would take her on stage with me this time with my cap," she said, adding that she always feels her great-grandmother is with her, that she is never far away.
David Penashue said his grandmother would be proud of his daughter.
He describes the woman who raised him as a medicine woman, saying that she helped many people in Sheshatshiu. He said he is proud that his daughter will be carrying on that legacy in their family.
"I'm proud of my daughter, that she's trying to move forward on that stuff, in [a] different way, you know, in the English way," he said.
Stashin Penashue said she hopes that in her career as a nurse she will be able to bring traditional medicine to western medicine, and believes that someone who has an understanding of Innu people will be a huge asset to the health-care system.
"I think it could make a huge difference because a lot of people are really closed off by a lot of different viewpoints, and I think it would help to have somebody who has lived here and they know how people are and like what customs they have," she said.
"I think it's really important. It can make people way more comfortable to get regular health care."
She plans to someday return to Sheshatshiu to work there as a nurse, but first she wants to pursue a nursing degree.
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