After the flames, Nunavut grads rise up in Cape Dorset

Seven students graduated from Peter Pitseolak high school in 2015-26, the same year the school burnt to the ground. Natasha Reid, Amanda Padluq, Quppapik Samayualie, Cie Takiasuk, Kairili Qiatsuk, Mayanne Samayualie and Naiomi Ottokie celebrated their graduated March 26. (PHOTOS BY AMANDA MORRISON)

South Baffin MLA poses with Peter Pitseolak high school graduates March 26 in Cape Dorset. Seven students graduated in the 2015-16 class, the same year the high school was destroyed in a fire. (PHOTO BY AMANDA MORRISON)

The 19 months between September 2015 and March 2017 were among the toughest that Natasha Reid and Amanda Padluq have experienced.

The two 18-year-old Cape Dorset youth woke up Sept. 6, 2015 to bad news: Peter Pitseolak high school had burned to the ground overnight.

“It was really shocking,” said Padluq, whose birthday fell on that day.

Both girls had just started Grade 12, their final year of high school, at Peter Pitseolak. It took about two weeks for school and government officials to secure classroom space so students could return to their studies.

Both remember the fire and the weeks that followed as the beginning of a difficult time for many students at Peter Pitseolak, during which they tried to adjust to new spaces, new material and a new schedule.

To accommodate the high school students at the community’s other school—Sam Pudlat elementary—administrators broke the school day into two shifts: elementary students attended school in the morning, and high school students in the afternoon and evening, from about 12:30 to 7:30 p.m.

“It was hard to adjust,” Reid said of the schedule, especially for students, who, like her, held part-time jobs in the evening.

“There were tonnes of students who just left. And I’m talking about students in all the grades.”

Teachers did their best to encourage students, but the new schedule was disruptive. The girls said they felt like children being in an elementary school classroom.

Cape Dorset’s MLA, David Joanasie, tried to draw attention to the issue, telling the legislature last year how the new schedule was taking a toll on family routines and students’ social lives.

“There were times when I just didn’t have the motivation,” Padluq said. “I thought about dropping out all the time.”

Padluq had to reflect deeply about what school meant to her. She knew she wanted to finish high school and pursue post-secondary studies.

The night before the fire, Padluq had cleaned out her locker and brought all her homework home. She’s not sure what made her do it, but she felt like it meant something, and stuck with it.

Padluq and Reid were among a group of seven Grade 12 students to complete the 2015-16 school year last June.

Now those feelings of frustration and despair are a thing of the past. Padluq describes a new feeling: the pride that comes from standing on a stage in a graduation gown while almost the whole community applauds.

A year and a half after the fire, the group celebrated their graduation, at a March 26 ceremony at Sam Pudlat school. Along with Padluq and Reid, the other graduates included Quppapik Samayualie, Cie Takiasuk, Kairili Qiatsuk, Mayanne Samayualie and Naiomi Ottokie.

The graduation was delayed until this spring to give students time to prepare.

“We had to start from scratch,” Reid said. “We lost all our grad supplies in the fire: decorations, the gowns and awards. We needed to find places to order it all in.”

The theme of the graduation was, fittingly “from the flames we rise.”

Colin Gibson, a member of the Cape Dorset District Education Authority, said the community has dubbed this graduating class the “fire grads.”

“These students rose above challenges and were a pillar of strength to a community in mourning,” Gibson said.

Most of the community of about 1,400 turned out March 26 to celebrate the graduating class. Later the hamlet put on a fireworks display and teachers hosted a “safe grad,” or alcohol-free dance, for the students.

Reid described graduating as a release of sorts. She said she remembers feeling angry after the fire; she felt upset with the youth who started it.

“When I found out who they were, I lost all respect for them. I was angry,” she said. “But gradually, I lost that, and I have forgiven them. They’ll be dealt with.”

The Cape Dorset graduation comes as another Nunavut community has lost its own school; Kugaardjuq school, the only school in Kugaaruk, was destroyed by fire Feb. 28.

Reid and Padluq both offer some advice to secondary students in that community who might be struggling with how to move forward.

“Keep your dreams and hopes up,” Reid said. “It will get better.

“It’s hard—and it’s hard to forgive the people who did it. But it’s not going to help, keeping a grudge. When you let go of that, you’ll be a better person. Education opens doors and it will bring you success.”

Padluq urges students to stay the course, if only to feel the same pride of completing high school.

“Don’t do what I almost did; don’t give up,” Padluq said. “You don’t want to loss that special feeling.”

What’s next for the fire grads? Padluq is working this year, but plans to apply to Nunavut Sivuniksavut’s Ottawa-based college program next year.

Reid is also working and saving some money to help fund her future studies. She hopes to apply to universities next year to study kinesiology, with the goal of becoming a physical education teacher or an orthopedic technician.

In Cape Dorset, Grades 10, 11 and 12 have since moved from Sam Pudlat into the local Nunavut Arctic College campus, which offers a more private and appropriate space for the high school students’ classes.

The new Peter Pitseolak high school is expected to be constructed on a new site in the community by September 2019.