Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Sep 13/02) - Four Nahanni Butte students were the first through the door at student residence on Labour Day.

There was no ticker tape, no ribbons to break. They did, however, get first pick of the rooms.

Cousins Samantha Konisenta and Rosanne Konisenta, bunking together, selected the largest room available, naturally. Finding a wobbly chair inside, they switched it with one from the room next door.

Rosanne quickly pulled out her Eminem/Dr. Dre poster. The rap artists are her favourite singers and their presence on the wall will remind her of her own room at home. She also had the dreaded alarm clock in her shoulder bag.

"I'm going to try to hack it," Samantha said of the early morning buzzer.

Samantha, who like Rosanne is going into Grade 11, unpacked her photo album and arranged some pictures and frames on the desk and stand next to her bed.

"I brought lots of books too, novels, to keep me busy," she said.

On the other side of the building, Mike Matou and Dean Betsaka were putting their clothes in their drawers. They didn't forget the important things -- their CDs and their video game systems.

Dean, a Grade 10 student, and Mike, who is entering Grade 11, have never roomed together before.

Neither knows if the other snores, but they're confident everything will work out OK.

Stanley Nirlungayuk, who supervises the residence along with his wife, Brenda, is expecting a total of nine students in residence this year.

Each tenant is assigned chores such as doing dishes, sweeping, mopping and vacuuming on a weekly rotational basis.

The students are also responsible for washing their own clothes. They must behave themselves and abide by the weeknight curfew of 10 p.m. and weekend curfew of midnight, noted Stanley, who stayed at Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife when he was going to school.

Being away from home isn't always easy, he acknowledged, but home is only a phone line away.

"They can call home with a calling card whenever they get homesick."

Mike and Dean admitted they will miss their families. Samantha and Rosanne expect to think about their parents and siblings often too.

"What really helps is that I have an auntie here ... I have a lot of relatives," Samantha said, adding that having Rosanne in the same room will also lift her spirits during the rough times. "We're really close friends. It will be a lot more comfortable."