Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 23/01) - Some students can still pick out where they left their hand prints at Ecole St. Joseph three years ago.

Hundreds of children, sporting a multi-coloured assortment of palms dipped in paint, added their impressions on the inside front wall of the school's foyer. This "rainbow of hands" was in celebration of the school's 20th anniversary in 1998.

In a couple of weeks these "peacekeeper" trainees will be ready to tackle head-on recess disputes on the playground and bullies within the younger grades. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

The rainbow colours of the hand prints reflect St. Joe's diversity.

"Not all students are Catholic, or even Christian," said Merril Dean, the Catholic school's assistant principal. "I think we have a responsibility as educators today to bring an understanding that the world needs tolerance and you need to learn about other cultures and what they believe."

Dean would be Yellowknifer's guide during the newspaper's two-hour visit to the school last week. Principal Flo Campbell was out of town.

School doubled in size

Ecole St. Joseph opened its doors to 253 kindergarten to Grade 9 students in 1978. That number has swelled to 595 today.

"Last year, we got involved in discussions over size," said Dean, who noted the school's population was even higher last year at 615. "The school was bursting at the seams. It's still over-capacity, so we'll probably be back to normal next year."

The population squeeze at St. Joe's, Dean explained, has a lot to do with its location. It is smack dab in the middle of Range Lake North, where the highest density of Yellowknife's families live.

Another reason is St. Joe's French immersion program. There are no French immersion students at Yellowknife Catholic Schools' other elementary school, Weledeh. If parents want their kids to attend a Catholic school and learn French, they have to go St. Joe's. Currently, 45 per cent of the student body are in French immersion.

Yet, Dean noted that St. Joe's hardly represents a scaled-down version of the two great solitudes. French immersion and English core students at the school make no such distinctions, Dean said.

"We do well," said Dean. "I think it (French immersion) has had a positive effect on our core program. You occasionally get English students speaking French in the hallways."

'Who wants to be in the newspaper!'

A short distance down the hall from the principal's office, Judy Whitford's Grade 5 English core class were engrossed in a research project.

That all changed when Yellowknifer walked into the room. Children, it seems, are one of the few segments in society who truly enjoy a reporter's presence.

Yellowknifer was forced to play a quick game of eenie-meenie-minie-mo to decide which group of students should appear in the newspaper for this article.

The winners were practically bouncing off the walls with glee. The vanquished remained undaunted, continuing to plead with the reporter -- "I want to be in the newspaper, please!" -- right up until the end of the period. Ironically, the task given by Whitford that day involved making a survey chart identifying changes they felt could improve the newspaper.

"Proof-reading for errors," said Natalie MacFadyen, was at the top of the list. "We also think it should have more world news, more stuff for children, colour photos, and a larger editorial section."

Whitford, meanwhile, was taking it all in stride. It was not the first time a reporter had visited her class. She was somewhat of a cause celebre when she began teaching at the school in 1997. Whitford is also a former student, having started kindergarten at the school the year it opened.

"At first it was pretty bizarre, because you were working with the teachers who taught you," Whitford recalled, before adding, "it felt safe to come back and work with familiar faces."

Whitford, who teaches both English core and French immersion Grade 5, said part of the challenge in itself was coming back North to work, having watched many of her classmates opting to head south after school.

"People have certain expectations about students coming back to work at Northern professions," Whitford said.

"It is a great challenge for people, though, because it can often be more alluring to go back down south."

Lunching with peacekeepers

Lunch-time was spent with student counsellor Carol Ostrom and her young charges, made up of grades 4 and 5 "peacekeeper" trainees.

In a couple of weeks the students will be ready to tackle head-on recess disputes on the playground and bullies within the younger grades.

"We've been learning the ground rules and doing some role-playing, where two people are pretending to fight," explained Grade 4 student Alex Tatti.

"We go up and introduce ourselves as peacekeepers and lay down the ground rules."

The ground rules are as follows: 1) effort must be made to solve the problem; 2) no interrupting the peacekeeper; and 3) no "put downs" allowed.

It is a different world out there today, Dean acknowledged back at her office.

"You are looking at kids who look at the world through 30-second sound bites and MTV," Dean continued.

"I can't teach the class in rap all the time."

Yet, even though St. Joe's is no more or less immune from the influences of a rapidly changing world, some things remain the same.

"One of the underlying principles of our school is to ask, 'What would Jesus do?'" Dean said. "I think there is a compassion and belief system that you can speak about openly here."