Baker Lake (Apr 27/05) - The tiny hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet has been slowly building a science dynasty.

When Victor Sammurtok student Shawna Sammurtok took top spot at the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair in Baker Lake earlier this month, it marked the third year in a row a Chesterfield Inlet student has claimed the event.

Baker's Jonah Amitnaaq school teams of Teal Kreuger and Andrew Cooper, and Paula Rumbolt and Emma Kreuger, took second and third respectively.

The fair is sponsored by the Kivalliq Science Educators Community with funding help from Kivalliq Partners in Development and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council.

Jim Kreuger is a program consultant for the Department of Education's School Operations in Baker.

He says much of Chesterfield Inlet's success can be attributed to a stable teaching staff.

"They used to be plagued with teacher turnover, but that's really turned around the past few years and we're seeing the result at the fair," says Kreuger.

"While students from schools with a high-turnover rate still produce good projects, they're not the same calibre as students with a stable teaching environment."

Kreuger says the vast majority of students submit projects on subjects that apply to them in the North.

"You rarely see the classic vinegar volcano any more.

"Today kids look around their environment and ask questions that grow out of that context, and that's good."

Most of the projects are translated into Inuktitut and English and, this year, eight of the 10 judges were bilingual.

Kreuger says it's a tremendous benefit for judges to be able to interview the kids in either language.

"The students are able to slip into the language they can best-explain their projects in."

A number of Kivalliq schools have made the science fair part of their curriculum to help students develop better overall projects.

Baker held a local fair about a week before the regional event that featured about 70 projects.

Chesterfield Inlet also held a huge local fair this year.

Kreuger says the communities that held the big local fairs were the big winners this year at the regional level.

"When you've got lots to choose from, you're probably bringing more well-rounded projects to the fair."