Igloolik student remixes her way to $5,000 scholarship

A Grade 11 student from Iglulik High School in Igloolik is one of two students to win a $5,000 scholarship for creating a remix.

Diane Kunnuk said she entered the competition because her teacher told her she could win.

“She gave me the confidence to work hard and submit my song,” said Kunnuk in an email. “Trusting her and myself and ending up winning the competition has made me very proud and inspired.”

The Your Voice is Power competition mashes computer programming with music education to spark discussions around Inuit, First Nations and Métis cultures and history.

“[Winning] really opens up the doors to future career possibilities,” said Quinn Bailey, the principal at Iglulik High School. “[Kunnuk] was in disbelief; she was almost in tears.”

Bailey said opportunities like this are great for students as a whole in Nunavut because it helps them explore talents they might not have had opportunities to otherwise explore.

More than 25,000 students and teachers across Canada participated in the program this year, said Emma Clarkin, a senior consultant with Your Voice is Power, in a news release Oct. 3.

Winners were announced last week.

In honour of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, students remixed music from multiple Indigenous artists to create songs reflective of historic abuses and mistreatment of Indigenous people in Canada.

“Diane’s submission features a mix of house, funk and pop music beats to reflect on the legacy of Indigenous children being removed from their homes and cultural backgrounds, and their exclusion from traditional practices and languages,” Clarkin said.

Your Voice is Power is an initiative of Amazon Future Engineer Canada, a STEM education program that seeks to provide opportunities for all students to explore their potential in science, technology, education and math.