PALMERSTON– Palmerston student Reese French has won the 2025 Turtle Island Heritage Youth award.
French, who is a Grade 11 student at Norwell District Secondary School, was presented the award by the Rotary Club of Guelph for demonstrating leadership qualities in the community and in the promotion of Indigenous culture.
The Upper Grand District School Board Indigenous education department takes applications for the award from students with Indigenous ancestry.
“I was very excited and a little nervous too, but yeah, I was very thankful,” said French in an interview with the Advertiser.
French participates in councils and promotes events within her school board as well as her community to let her voice be heard and to teach others about her culture.
“A lot of people are kind of nervous about expressing their culture if they’re Indigenous,” said French. “So I’ve tried to help them break out of their shell and kind of experience more about their culture.”
She’s helped host events such as moccasin making and talks from Elders. French said she tries to make people feel comfortable.
“I know it can be kind of scary going and not knowing anyone.
French said she is of the Mohawk and Delaware First Nations.
For French, the past few years have been a process of rediscovering her culture.
“We didn’t really grow up as traditional.”
French said no one in her family has their Indian Status, due to her great-great grandfather giving up his status to fight in the First and Second World War.
“I feel like a lot of learning has been lost from that, but I’m kind of trying to relearn everything,” said French. “I do think it’s important to know about your history.”
Around the start of high school, her cousins helped her begin to relearn parts of her culture.
French has dedicated herself to learning the Mohawk language, and said it’s been an “amazing” experience.
“It’s so beautiful to learn a language that people in your past have known, and it’s kind of like fading away,” said French.
“So I think it’s such a beautiful thing to relearn it and have people that are willing to teach it as well.”
French said she could see herself making a career out of Indigenous teaching.
