Nunavut contest to reward school attendees with free NHL trip

Collin Goyman of Medic North Nunavut, tells Cambridge Bay students Nov. 25 if they go to school every day for the next 10 weeks, they can earn a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to see the Edmonton Oilers in March 2015. (PHOTO BY KELCEY WRIGHT)

Special to Nunatsiaq News

CAMBRIDGE BAY — A free flight to Edmonton, free hotel accommodations for three nights, two tickets to a National Hockey League game and VIP passes to meet the players.

That’s what’s in store for two lucky Kitikmeot students who will spend the next 10 weeks faithfully attending school.

Medic North Nunavut, in partnership with First Air, is kick-starting a contest called “Shoot for Success” to encourage western Nunavut students to go to school and work hard.

“I grew up in Baffin Island so I know the graduation rates are not great,” said Collin Goyman, the contest’s lead organizer of the contest. “It’s important to push [the students] forward, tell them to dream big and work hard and that good things will happen.”

The education-based initiative will begin Dec.1 and run until Feb.15.

To be eligible for the contest draw, students will need a 95 per cent school attendance rate during that time and show improved academic performance.

Every teacher elementary and high schools across the Kitikmeot region can enter five eligible students from their classes and names will be drawn on Feb. 15.

One elementary student and one high school student, along with one parent for each of them, will be picked randomly to enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to meet NHL players at an Edmonton Oilers game on March 3.

“Where else would this type of experience happen?” said Goyman, who has worked with Medic North Nunavut for almost two years in the Air Ambulance Division.

“They’re living in such remote places, they sometimes don’t have the same opportunities they would if they were in school down south.”

Last year, Goyman organized another school-based contest where students who were generous and kind to their teachers and classmates earned a chance to win NHL jerseys and hats signed by L.A. Kings’ forward Mike Richards, a native of Kenora, Ont.

When Goyman stood in front of Cambridge Bay’s elementary and high school assemblies Nov. 25 to tell them about the contest, students were thrilled at the prospect of winning the generous NHL prize.

“Involvement in the community is so important,” said Goyman. “These kids deserve it.”

According to Nunavut education department statistics for the period 2001 and 2011, the Kitikmeot region averaged a 67.3 per cent attendance rate for students from kindergarten to Grade 12 — the lowest among Nunavut’s three regions.

Those regional figures ranged from a low in Gjoa Haven of 60.7 per cent to a high of 75.3 per cent in Cambridge Bay.

The Kivalliq region had the highest average attendance rate for that time, with 73.5 per cent and the Baffin region averaged 69.3 per cent attendance.