ALICE ROSIE PARADA was raised in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, attending Churchill High School. Roughly a year ago, she came across a post on the Indigenous Friends Association (IFA) Facebook page discussing INDIGital: Art and Healing. Intrigued by the potential to enhance her artistic abilities and seeking a meaningful way to invest her time, she enrolled. Through INDIGital, Alice improved her art abilities and creative skills. After graduating, she subscribed to email updates from the IFA and was informed about INDIGital: Healing Through Technology. Given her previous positive experience, Alice registered.

Alice's motivation for engaging with the new INDIGital was her desire to acquire technological skills. In just five weeks, she absorbed knowledge in various tools including Google Suites, Canva, Powerpoint, Facebook, and Microsoft Designer. During the program, she focused on a project that used art to promote mental well-being in potential lockdowns. Her tasks involved creating a webpage, designing posters, and creating a Facebook post to attract webinar attendees. INDIGital significantly boosted her confidence in tackling unfamiliar tech applications that once daunted her. Through INDIGital she was introduced to ChatGPT, sparking her independent pursuit of knowledge on the platform.

Reflecting on her journey, Alice expressed gratitude towards the IFA staff and mentors for their invaluable wisdom, knowledge, and unwavering support. One particular program exercise left a lasting imprint on her and focused on addressing poverty within the First Nations Community. The core lesson taken away was the profound impact of taking small steps, which eventually pave the way for significant change. 

Alice is currently working on writing a story for her late father, who was a Holocaust survivor hailing from Poland. He settled in Canada and fell in love with Alice’s mother who was Cree and had endured the harsh realities of the residential schooling system. Despite the language barrier and cultural differences, their mutual love for dance brought them together. Alice is using her learnings from ChatGPT to help write the story. Alice aspires to apply the knowledge she acquired from INDIGital to support her community. Her aunt is wary of using computers, but Alice, having conquered her technological anxiety, is eager to assist her. Alice views aiding one elder with their computer skills as a small but meaningful step in the valuable lesson she learned from her exercise. Her goal is to pass on her technological knowledge to her grandchildren, elders, and the younger generations within her community.