Blog Post: Meet Caitie Blumsom, Summer Education Instructor

Aaniin! Hello everyone! My name is Caitie, and I am so grateful to be taking on one of the Outreach & Education roles with TRACKS this season. I come from the Nipissing/North Bay area, and have been living in Nogojiwanong for the past four years. However, I am an uninvited
guest in both of these spaces, as my family is of Scottish descent.
I have always been incredibly passionate about education and youth engagement. Until recently, however, my pedagogies were deeply rooted in a Western context: delivering literacy programming in libraries and classrooms, facilitating youth day camps, tutoring, and more.
When I arrived at Trent in 2017, however, my worldviews were flipped upside down! Through the Indigenous Studies program in particular, I quickly learned that so much of my learning had been rooted in relationships to the Natural World. In making this shift, I was able to move beyond the constraints of academia, and open my mind and heart to so many brilliant people and knowledge sources. 

Next year, I will continue my learning journey in the Bachelor of Education program at Nipissing University. Upon graduation, I hope to further engage with land-based, heart-centred learning through programs such as TRACKS! I truly believe that Mother Earth is our number one teacher, and I am so excited to continue learning with and from the land. In my free time, I can usually be found hiking, making music or visiting with my family. I also love to garden, cook, and spend time in/with the water. I am so excited to be a part of the TRACKS team, and I look forward to getting to know you all over the course of the next four months.