Brooke VanderKooi, 2020 Award recipient
Brooke VanderKooi is currently a 3rd year Law student at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law. Prior to Law school she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and English at the University of Alberta.
For the past two years Brooke has served as a Program Coordinator for Level Justice's Indigenous Youth Outreach Program where she teaches First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth about the justice system through experiential learning opportunities such as mock trials and sentencing circles. She also works as an Indigenous Youth Career Coach to help Indigenous students in obtaining paid summer internships and provides them with a variety of professional development supports in order to help them discover their passion and prepare them for that career path. Brooke's Métis ancestry is tied to the Red River Settlement of Manitoba where her great (x3) grandfather Ambroise-Dydime Lépine was the Military Chief of the Red River Resistance. She also has ties to the Cree communities of Maskwacis where she assisted with the expansion of the Elders Mentoring Program, and was honoured to receive her Cree name Osâwi Piyêsîs (ᐅᓵᐏ ᐱᔦᓰᐢ). |