Paddling on the curriculum at Victor Sammurtok School

Textbooks and smart boards have nothing to do with the back-to-school experience for 26 high school students in Chesterfield Inlet.

Memphis Kreelak prepares to go underwater on Police Lake Aug. 20 in Chesterfield Inlet as teacher Glen Brocklebank assists with a controlled capsize. Keagan Kadjuk looks on. (Photo by Daron Letts)

They are participating in Victor Sammurtok School’s annual two-week Qajaq Program, in which they learn to paddle student-made qajait in freshwater and, ultimately, the open ocean.

“I wish it could last two months,” said senior student Vicky Kowtak as she pulled her craft to shore on Police Lake after capsizing — on purpose — on Aug. 20.

That was the second day of the program, when science teacher Glen Brocklebank helped the teens get comfortable tipping their qajait in shallow water, close to shore.

The students practised exiting their qajaq underwater, righting it, then re-entering until they could do so in under one minute. Once they mastered that skill, they had free rein to paddle at will in the centre of the lake.

The lake — 150-metres wide and 1.5 metres deep — is more of a pond, located at the end of the airport runway.

“There is no swimming pool in Chesterfield Inlet, so there’s some students that are very afraid of water,” Brocklebank said.

The students are equipped with life jackets and dry suits with a fleece under layer, paid for by a $140,000 Arctic Inspiration Prize in 2018.

Brocklebank and his spouse, English teacher Anna Leishman, supervise the students alongside nine experienced graduates who served as paid instructors.

“It’s a fun program and I love to help the students,” said one instructor, Hector Mullins, whose beaming smile never left his face throughout the morning of Aug. 20.

Elementary classes and some family members even watched from shore.

“It gives the students confidence,” said Susan Makpah, as she quietly cheered on her grandson, Cyrus Makpah.

The students needed that buoyed confidence on the fifth day, as they moved on to Mission Lake near the Co-op, which is twice as long and deep.

Winds gusted to 30 km/h, which added another challenge.

“They’re really keen kids,” said Leishman. “They listened and they really paid attention.”

On Day 6 they hit the ocean, hugging the shore at first as they paddled across the strait between the school and the docks, surrounded on three sides by land.

The next day was even more ambitious as the crew bussed one kilometre past the power plant and paddled back on the ocean.

“Every day is building in terms of difficulty,” Brocklebank said.

Brocklebank sometimes could only see the students’ helmets above the waves as their qajait pulsed up and down atop two-foot swells on Hudson Bay.

On Wednesday, the students will become teachers when they return to Police Lake and invite a friend or family member to try out their qajait.

In the fall, the school plans to purchase new gear with a $50,000 grant from the Isaksimagit Inuusirmi Katujjiqatigiit Embrace Life Council.