A day of joy for Sanikiluaq

Four years of work paid off last Friday when seven women from Sanikiluaq became full-fledged teachers.

To a bilingual recording of “We are the world,” Lucy Mary Qavvik, Isabel Takatak, Caroline Alariak, Mina Rumbolt, Mary Kavik, Dina Kavik and Lizzie Kavik, all wearing caps and gowns, proceeded to the stage at the school gym with Premier Paul Okalik, Education Minister Ed Picco and various Nunavut educators, as their friends and families looked on.

In the front row were Mina Rumbolt’s sister, her husband and her son, each armed with cameras to record the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Mina’s mother, elder Louisa Ippak, tended to a qulliq.

“Graduation Day is a day of joy, a time to honor our students,” said Annie Appaqaq Sr., the president of the local district education authority.

The women were there to receive Bachelors of Education degrees, earned through the Nunavut Teacher Education Program.

NTEP, in partnership with McGill University, offers a community-based program that prepares Inuit to become teachers in Nunavut schools.

NTEP offers two programs, a three-year Teaching Diploma and the four-year Bachelor of Education Degree. Currently, these programs are being offered in Taloyoak, Clyde River and Arviat.

The programs’ emphasis is on training primary and elementary teachers, with the focus on practice, and the theory learned in courses is quickly put to use in the classroom.

Picco reminded those assembled that since 1979, NTEP has produced 200 teachers, 105 with bachelors’ degrees, and has been “a tremendous success.”

Although the training was offered in Sanikiluaq, studying for years wasn’t easy, the two class valedictorians said.

“It seemed like it went on forever,” Lucy Mary Qavvik and Isabel Takatak said.

The four years were marked by a lack of money, technical problems with computers, homework demands and personal problems.

“We comforted each other and helped each other.”

Elders offered support, traditional knowledge and courage.

“We want to be role models – the best teachers we can be,” the two said.

Valentina de Krom from McGill encouraged all the new graduates to set new challenging goals, and consider further advanced study towards a master’s degree or a doctorate in education.

NTEP teacher Noel McDermott, speaking in Inuktitut and English, underlined the importance of using Inuktitut.

“This is a difficult time for Inuit. There is pressure on all sides for students to use English,” he said. “There is so much wrong if Inuktitut isn’t used at home and at school. I believe that children should be taught and learn in their own language.”

Mary Kavik received the Rebecca Idlout Memorial Award for her academic excellence, while Dina Kavik received the NTEP leadership award for her leadership skills.

Then, with diplomas and flowers in hand, the graduates posed for photos and shook hands with everyone present.

Later, everyone gathered in the arena for a community feast of country foods.

Smiling in her new McGill T-shirt, grinning grad Isabel handed out mugs with the STEP logo for the Sanikiluaq Teachers Education Program, a program which the new teachers claimed for their own and renamed.

Next year, Isabel, along with her fellow grads, plans to start her career as a teacher at Nuiyak School.