Camosun Early Learning and Care graduate Gretta de Carvalho Kawahara is this year’s recipient of the college’s British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal.
While de Carvalho Kawahara started her post-secondary journey in Brazil, multiple strikes at her school forced her to search for a new program. Specifically, she looked at programs in Canada where she knew immigrants were more welcomed and understood.
“I was studying in Brazil for two years,” she says. “I was studying there in a program that was four years, but unfortunately, there was a lot of strikes and I couldn’t finish my program. I decided to focus on saving money to come to Canada. The reason I chose Canada is I saw the huge number of immigrants that had come here, and this way I would feel… far away from my family, but not just different from everyone else.”
After finding Camosun, she was interested after just reading about the Early Learning and Care diploma program.
“After choosing Canada, I started looking for colleges that would really give me that opportunity to practice, and when I saw Camosun, I read the [Early Learning and Care diploma] program description and fell in love.”
While de Carvalho Kawahara’s time at Camosun was full of great memories, a specific memory she experienced while working at a daycare for her practicum stands out.
“My first day at the practicum… We were able to take [the children] into the forest,” she says. “Unfortunately, in Brazil, we have beautiful nature there, but it’s not so accessible for us educators to take children. So, I will never forget the picture of the children going into the forest with us.”
De Carvalho Kawahara—who graduated this year—received the call that she had won the BC Lieutenant Governor’s Medal while walking down the street. She had spent the day struggling to buy plane tickets for her mother and grandmother to visit her; the call came as a complete surprise, and she was overwhelmed with happiness.
“I was walking in the middle of the street when I got the call. I remember that one hour before receiving the call, I was trying to get the tickets for my mom and grandma, and it was not easy to get those tickets… I remember that after getting the news, I just started crying. That was a sign, a sign that all the work that I’m doing is worth it.”
The BC Lieutenant Governor’s Medal is awarded to students who actively practice inclusion, democracy, and reconciliation in their school and community. De Carvalho Kawahara says that, for her, that means listening to silenced voices and accepting different perspectives.
“All of those words are so connected with practices and feelings… but I believe it’s something we all need to keep working on. Every day,” she says. “And not just through our perspectives, but different perspectives as well. Because when we think about inclusion, it doesn’t mean including ourselves only… And it’s the same for democracy or reconciliation… I feel that all of this is a way that you are going to listen to the voices that are silenced, and you are going to work for those voices.”
Now that she has completed her diploma at Camosun, de Carvalho Kawahara hopes to get a permanent visa. This will allow her to continue her studies and complete a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood and Care Education.
“I really need to get a permanent visa so I can pay for my studies in a way that’s more affordable,” she says. “My goal is that I want to keep studying… I want to keep working, keep learning, and keep sharing with people what I learn and all the things I still have to learn.”
Camosun students Samreeta Kandola, Rylen Enger, and Garret Wright all received the Governor General Collegiate Bronze Medal, awarded to top academic graduates of a program that is two years or longer.