Land trips pay off

Elementary students at Nakasuk School returned from their land trips in April “empowered and elated,” principal Carol Horn said in a letter to the Iqaluit DEA, which funded part of the program.

Nakasuk school ran five day trips on the land in April. The trips were an extension of a program where two, and sometimes three, elders work with 32 “students at risk” in the school.

The students had a chance to sew mittens and slippers, make traditional tools, or bake bannock for the breakfast or lunch program.

Nakasuk School is now seeking $5,000 from the IDEA’s Students First Fund for a four-day school camp by the Sylvia Grinnell River, organized by elders and Inuit staff.

These programs make a difference, Horn notes: “[Students] are developing a greater sense of self-worth and confidence. They come to the office to share their successes. They have their pictures taken with their handiwork and then proudly take it home as a gift to important family members.”