Daniel MacIssac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 27/99) - It's a fact of life that little kids have mixed emotions about the summer ending and heading back to school.

But for the big kids attending college and university, September couldn't be more welcome -- since it means leaving their summer jobs and heading back to a world of learning and independence, and the promise of a bright future.

It was in this spirit that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment staged an afternoon barbecue for Inuvik's scholars last week.

"We've got to be there and encourage anyone going on to post-secondary studies," said Clarence Wood, a career development officer with the department. "That's what today is all about."

Even if, as Wood pointed out, a combination of short notice, work hours and poor weather resulted in a somewhat modest turnout Friday afternoon, the students who did turn up were certainly enthusiastic.

Jennifer Gordon and Jon-Paul Picek are both Samuel Hearne graduates now studying in Calgary. She's in the bachelor of science program at Mount Royal College and he's studying aircraft maintenance at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Picek had already found work in his field and spent the last few months at Beaudel Air. Gordon said she plans to go to pursue nursing and gave an emphatic "No!" when asked whether she had any regrets about leaving home to study.

"This gives me a better future," she said.

Picek said that when he was in high school he didn't know exactly what he wanted to do -- just that he wanted to have some new experiences, so he kept his marks high to keep his options open.

Gordon said the importance of grades and thinking about post-secondary studies can't be stressed enough.

"They don't really tell you that earlier on, like in grades 9 and 10," she said. "They push all that stuff on you in Grade 12, when really the universities are looking at all your grades."

Floyd Roland, minister of Health and Social Services, said the government continues to encourage higher studies through its grants and loans-forgiveness programs. He also said he already has academic ambitions for his own six children, particularly 16-year-old Austin.

"He's really into sports, but I tell him he's on the doorstep," he said, adding, "it's never too early to tell kids to work hard now to make the future easier."

One Inuvik resident who set a perfect example for her family was Mable English. A life-long homemaker, English said it was a her own quest for independence that led her to return to school later in life -- to the Native Women's Centre and to Aurora College in Fort Smith. She said her efforts helped encourage all six of her children to take school seriously.

"When they first graduated high school, they thought Grade 12 was enough," she said, "but then they saw me go back to school after 40 years and six children and asked themselves why they would want to sit around with a low-paying job."