Nunavut Arctic College

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Each semester Nunavut Teacher Education Program (NTEP) Coordinators travel to the communities where programs are being offered. This week Program Coordinator Louise Flaherty spent time with the NTEP Foundations class in Hall Beach. While acquainted with many of the students, it was special for everyone to spend face-to-face time together.

Last Saturday, the local high school badminton team in Hall Beach hosted a ball hockey tournament which was open to all players 12 years old and up.The NTEP Foundations class, joined by Pre-Employment Instructor Zillah Piallaq, were excited to participate.

There were eight teams in total, split into two divisions. After divisional round-robins, the top two teams in each division played in the gold and bronze medal games. Unfortunately, as the N.T.E.P. team name projected (“Not Totally Expert Players” was the acronym chosen), the Nunavut Arctic College squad did not fair too well as far as wins.

Despite the string of loses on behalf of the N.T.E.P. team, all participants seemed to thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere of exercise, competition, and fun.When the high school girls beat N.T.E.P. in sudden death over-time, with a beautiful passing play and goal, the whole gym burst into cheering.

The teams all look forward to tournaments in the future.

It is hard to believe that we have just passed the halfway point of the Fall 2011 school semester. Zillah Piallaq and the Pre-Employment students in Hall Beach marked the occasion with Spirit Week.

Members of the student council have planned many extracurricular activities, such as weekend movies and field trips, but last week the emphasis was to create experiences that all could participate in while attending class. One challenge was for staff and students to dress in accordance with a different theme for each day of spirit week.

The best dressed earned the most points, which were added to the scores of other events and counted towards a set of prizes awarded at the end of Spirit Week.

Happy Haunted Halloween! Students and staff in Hall Beach were happy to spend the daylight hours of Halloween in costume.

Pre-Employment and NTEP Foundations students spent the day in classes as the community set about preparing for the evening festivities. As the school day drew to a close, the two classes joined at the Community Learning Center. Once there, they shared ghost stories and candy, as well as bobbing for apples in buckets of water, all generously provided by the Pre-Employment class.

After a long school day in costume and eating too much junk food, all were pleased to join the greater community for town-wide activities.

Hall Beach and Beyond: guided by local elders, NTEP Foundations students took to the open seas learning traditional sea navigation techniques.

On Thursday, October 13th, NTEP Foundations students in Hall Beach set out on a ‘field’ trip to Ugli Island. The excursion was part of Nunavut Arctic College’s commitment to the guiding principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ).

The trip was led by local elders Solomon Qanatsiaq and David Kannutaq, who used the opportunity to educate the class on several aspects of Inuit culture. The topics included traditional means of navigation at sea, orientation on land, hunting, and old housing and camp structures, known as sod houses.

The class set out at 10 a.m. and returned at 6 p.m. It was a cold day, but a special time for the class, which included the nourishment of a successfully hunted and prepared seal. The extra meat and skin were returned to Hall Beach to be shared among the community.

At the end of the fifth week of studies for the Pre-Employment and NTEP Foundations Programs running in Hall Beach, students from both classes spent a cheery Saturday evening participating in a town Table Sale.

The students put their kitchens and bodies to work, donating a banquet of baked foods, but also selling their services towards household chores. Community members were happy to ‘employ’ Pre-Employment students for services such as meal preparation, cleaning, doing laundry, and other such jobs in exchange for a $10 donation towards student activities. It was a great night that was enjoyed by all who participated, guests and students alike.

As Canadian as the Stanley Cup and Maple Syrup is the fall gathering to raise money for cancer research by participating in the Terry Fox Run. Year-to-year, never missing a step, the citizens of Hall Beach eagerly joined in the effort.

The last weeks have seen door-to-door campaigning, bakes sales, and other fundraising activities. All the work culminated last Friday, when students enrolled in the Pre-Employment and NTEP Foundations Programs joined students from Arnaqjuaq School for the afternoon run through town. Lots of exercise, lots of money raised, and lots of fun, too!

At the close of the second week of the fall semester, students in Pre-Trades and NTEP Foundations in Hall Beach gathered with friends and family for a social.

The afternoon-evening program consisted of small discussions about the courses. The emphasis highlighted the role of friends and family in supporting those enrolled, that the 2011-2012 school year will require work, effort, and understanding not only from the students, but, significantly, from their families as wel -- that in many ways, it is a group effort. In between discussions, those in attendance, including Bishop Reynald Rouleau, enjoyed snacks, games and prizes for the children, or for the more competitive adults, as the situation developed.

As with the Government of Nunavut, the philosophy reflected in the eight principles forming Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is a priority with Nunavut Arctic College. During the first week of the Fall semester, the NTEP Foundation class in Hall Beach enjoyed an afternoon with one of the local Elders. After opening the gathering with a prayer and blessing, the conversations revolved around means of incorporating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in schools, the importance of education, and the significance of having more Inuit teachers in Inuit communities.