Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 09/04) - Caroline Roux's face lights up when she talks about reading the letters former and present students have written about her.

These aren't letters for marking or school projects. These are essays students across the NWT are asked to write each year for the NWT Teachers Association Make a Difference contest.

This year, 10-year-old Harper Sateana-Barr decided her Grade 4 teacher at J.H. Sisson's school had made a difference in her life.

Her letter won Roux two airline tickets to Edmonton, while Sateana-Barr took home an eMac computer.

Last year, Roux called up a former Grade 4 student to thank him for choosing her as his inspirational teacher. He was in Grade 12 at the time. She didn't win the draw then, but was pleased to know she influenced a former student.

"He said I gave him confidence and the taste to learn French more," says the French immersion teacher.

"It's always so touching. Sometimes somebody would write about you that you would never expect," she says.

"We try to do our best every day and make a difference in someone's life," says Roux.

Recognition of that difference is why the NWTTA decided to launch the annual contest seven years ago.

"It was initiated to raise the profile of educational jobs in the NWT and how much of an impact teachers can have on kids in their daily care," says Yvonne Careen, the secretary-treasurer of the NWTTA.

Any school staff can be the subject of the letters. The letters are distributed back to teachers after the contest concludes each year, which is how Roux found out she has been the subject of a few letters over the years.

Over 600 students decided to compose a letter about their most influential educator. That's a big jump from the initial 20 entrants in 1998.

The two winners were drawn randomly in a ceremony in Inuvik on March 25. The NWTTA presented Roux and Sateana-Barr with their prizes during a school assembly a week later.