Kildonan East Collegiate Student Wins a Manitoba Indigenous Youth Achievement Award

The Manitoba Indigenous Youth Achievement Awards (MIYAA) recognize the outstanding achievements of Indigenous youth who display high standards of excellence, dedication, leadership, and accomplishment. This year, Kildonan East student D’angelo Neepin-Ballantyne won in the category of Culinary Arts.

D’angelo, a member of the Fox Lake Cree Nation, is a grade 12 student in Kildonan East’s culinary program, but his love for the kitchen began much earlier while he was growing up in northern Manitoba.

“I became interested in cooking because my grandma Lillian would always let me cook with her,” said D’angelo. “She would take me to hydro camps where she worked as a head chef. Some of my uncles are also chefs, including my uncle Shane who has traveled all over Canada to cook.”

Culinary program teacher Amanda Lobban-Klassen first met D’angelo during his grade 11 culinary course and recognized that he was not only a whiz in the kitchen, but also an emerging leader.

“As D’angelo gains confidence in the kitchen, he consistently demonstrates natural leadership through his supportive and considerate interactions with his peers and teachers,” said Amanda. “This enhances the overall team dynamic in the kitchen and classroom.”

D’angelo has already joined the Winnipeg Chef’s Association, which is helping him to build a professional network and to look for job opportunities in restaurants. With culinary skills and tastes influenced by his Indigenous heritage, he has a unique culinary offering.

“I learned how to make a lot of First Nations dishes from my grandma and I feel it shapes how I make my food now,” he said. “Pizza will always be my favorite thing to cook as it is the first thing my mom showed me how to cook. So it is pretty sentimental to me. I love how much you can do with it to make it yours. I think of it like an art.”

When he’s not in in the kitchen, he can likely be found on a stage, playing guitar. Besides cooking, music is his greatest passion, so he hopes to always find a way to fit it into his life. One of the five bands he is a member of was nominated for a Manitoba Loud Music Award in 2024.

Although he applied to the MIYAA on his own, D’angelo was surprised and incredibly grateful when he found out he won, crediting his teachers and mother for helping him find the courage to apply.

“I am beyond proud of D’angelo for winning this award,” said Amanda. “I am so glad he is being recognized and celebrated for his hard work and achievements. I think this will help D’angelo recognize all the amazing things he has accomplished in his culinary journey thus far and will give him encouragement to keep moving forward on his culinary path.”

And moving forward is exactly what D’angelo intends to do. After graduation from high school, he will be enrolling in the cooking apprenticeship program at Red River College Polytechnic where he will expand his culinary skills, after which he hopes to follow in his uncle’s footsteps by travelling across Canada to cook and possibly open his own restaurant.

Congratulations, D’angelo!