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IQALUIT - If it wasn't for the support he receives at home, nursing student Kaajuk Kablalik says he wouldn't have made it this far.

Currently in his second year of nursing at Nunavut Arctic College, the young man from Rankin Inlet recently received one of six Queen Elizabeth II Awards that recognized academic achievement among students in the last three years of the four-year program.

A nursing student at Nunavut Arctic College, Kaajuk Kablalik, left, was honoured last week with a $3,000 award that recognizes academic excellence. Presenting the Queen Elizabeth II Awards this year was assistant deputy minister of Health and Social Services Bruce Peterkin. - Carolyn Sloan/NNSL photo

A father of two young boys, Kablalik was visibly touched by the honour. With all the challenges of raising a family while in school, the recognition was a validation of his perseverance.

"I really wasn't expecting it," he said last week. "It's really important, though, because it's boosted my confidence. It's a boost for all the award winners. It'll definitely help us want to finish."

Queen Elizabeth II initiated the nursing award during her visit to Nunavut in 2002. Given to the two students with the highest grade point averages in each of the years two, three and four, the academic awards are now provided by Nunavut's Department of Health and Social Services.

At the presentation ceremony, the department's assistant deputy minister Bruce Peterkin expressed gratitude to the students taking the program, noting the need for trained nurses in the territory.

"We appreciate that you've taken on the challenge, that you've decided to do this, because for Nunavut it's very important," he said.

This year, Peterkin handed out the awards, valued at $3,000, to fourth-year students Sherry Katsak-Parks of Pond Inlet and Deborah Strom of Iqaluit, and third-year students Parniga Thibaudeau and Nancy Zurheide of Iqaluit.

The other second-year student to receive an award was Melanie Lynch of Iqaluit.

These students have succeeded because of a support system, said Kablalik, who expressed his gratitude to his spouse for her strength and encouragement.

"My common law is awesome," he said. "She's been so supportive in this whole process, until this point, and I have faith that she's going to be there until the end. I think that's why the students that are here now are here, because they have that strong support system.

"If you don't have that support system to begin with, your whole foundation is going to fall. I believe whole-heartedly that's why I'm here."

Before enrolling in the nursing program at NAC, Kablalik took the Personal Support Worker course in Perth, Ont. His motivation to become a nurse developed through his previous role as a caregiver.

"Before I went to college, I was looking after one of my cousins who was a paraplegic and my interest sparked from there," he said. "I'd looked after him for almost two years...and I just wanted to see where I could take my education."

After finishing his degree, Kablalik said he hopes to stay in Nunavut.

"This is my home. Not Iqaluit in particular but I might go back to Rankin. That's where I grew up. That's where my roots are."