Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Jan 11/06) - The growing love of science among Kivalliq students is something Jim Kreuger of Baker Lake doesn't want to see come to an end.

Kreuger is president of the Kivalliq Science Educator's Community (KSEC), which formed about 11 years ago to promote and create youth-science activities in the region.

The group started by running the annual Kivalliq Regional Science Fair and sending the winners to the Canada-wide Science Fair.

From there the KSEC began annual Science Olympics (the science engineering and technology challenge), a kindergarten to Grade 12 activity.

Kreuger says the group has also run a regional science camp for the past five years, and created the Inuit Science Award for the top male and female Grade 12 graduates in the region.

"We've reached the stage where the majority of our students have grown up with these programs," says Kreuger.

"We also have a number of teachers who have been around for a long time.

"They play a huge role in the development of our programs and fostering an interest in science among our students.

"The longer the teachers stay, the more effective they become in taking advantage of these programs.

The programs show students that science can be fun and relevant to their lives.

Kreuger says not only is science needed to graduate, but understanding it helps youth explain a lot of what they see around them in their daily lives.

He says science is also culturally relevant when you look at how long Inuit have survived in the harshest climate in the world.

"The two go hand in hand because if the science isn't fun, it becomes hard for the kids to take the relevance issues at face value.

"Science activities also bring kids together in a way that they don't view each other as opponents.

"I'm a huge advocate of sports, but we need other activities where kids can get to know each other and realize their dreaded opponents from another town can also become valued friends."

Kreuger says the science programs are costly and getting more difficult to run.

He says the KSEC has been fortunate to have a number of partners and funders during the past decade, but donations have either stayed the same or been cut back.

"We've let our donors know some of our programs could soon be in jeopardy if we don't get a stronger financial commitment from our partners.

"It's getter harder and harder to make it work and I hope the concern in our letter will be heard and acted upon."