Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

BAKER LAKE (May 13/98) - Abbygail Noah of Baker Lake looks forward to her first trip overseas.

The 18-year-old student may just get the experience she wants through the Nunavut Youth Abroad Program, a project started this year to provide young people in the new territory with international experience. She is one of 10 Nunavut students aged 16 to 21 chosen to spend six weeks at a work placement in southern Canada beginning this July.

The domestic trip is the pilot phase for international travels set to begin next year.

"It will help me learn what to do outside the NWT," said Noah. "(But) being away for six weeks is a long time," she said.

Learning to adapt to new environments is all part of the program's goals, said Chris DaSilva, chair of the Nunavut Youth Abroad Program steering committee.

"That's the aim of the program -- to get kids used to being away from home," he said. "Then we take the keenest of those to go overseas."

Started by the Nunavut boards of education, regional Inuit association, the Nunavut High School Project, and Canadian Crossroads, the program is also designed to provide the future leaders of Nunavut with strong national and international experience, said DaSilva.

"We need some workers with some international experience," he said.

Adriana Clark of Rankin Inlet said that the experience opens up peoples' minds to other parts of the world.

"We will try and motivate people around us when we come back to get them to do the same things," she said.

Clark, 16, said that she expects to get a lot out of the work placements and hopes to be chosen for the Africa trip next year.

In early July, students will travel to Ottawa for a four-day orientation workshop, which will be followed by their six-week work placement, most likely in rural parts of Canada. While there, they will live with host families.

Organizers intend to send 25 more youths down south next summer and to choose 15 to visit Swaziland for the program's first stint overseas next year. Five of those will be chosen from this year's group.

Other Keewatin students set to head south this July are Colin Eetuk of Coral Harbour and Nancy Gibbons of Arviat. Alternates are Gloria Kowtak of Rankin Inlet and Roxanne Baker of Arviat.