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INUVIK - For 44-year-old Ruby Ruben, Monday's community feast to mark Aurora College's 40th anniversary was a time for reflection.

The Aurora College student and single mother from Paulatuk is proud of how far she has come in such a short time and the positive role model she has become for her daughter.

Aurora College student Ruby Ruben and president Maurice Evans attended the institution's 40th anniversary celebration on Monday. They say they're proud of the college's lasting contribution throughout the North. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

"It was difficult going back to school. It's still a bit difficult, but I'm learning a lot and it feels good," she said.

As people streamed into the college's foyer and the names of door prize winners were announced, Ruben talked of her sense of pride about the occasion.

A high school dropout, the Fort Smith resident enrolled in Aurora College last year. She started in the office administration program and is now in the first year of a two-year management studies program.

She's focusing on a number of finance-related jobs and she might carry on her studies at a university in the south.

"It's important that I show my daughter how important education is by going back to school," she said. "Like I said, it's difficult at times. You look forward to the end result because it's all worth it."

Maurice Evans, Aurora College president, was on hand for the community celebration that featured performances from members of the Inuvik drummers and dancers.

He said it is stories like Ruben's that reaffirm the institution's worth in the North and the significance of the anniversary.

"It's the partnerships we've built up with the community, especially with the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in, " he said. "We know their aspirations for self-determination. We really believe that the college's role in providing education can be in lock-step with that, to provide those opportunities."

During its existence in Inuvik, the college's most northerly campus has re-established its importance at the site of the former Grollier Hall.

While much emphasis is on adult upgrade education, several valuable courses have popped up such as the natural resources technology program and currently a multi-year program is in the works, which aims to produce more aboriginal teachers.

Evans said with continued community and government backing, the sky is the limit.

"It's really become, I think, a central part of the community," he said. "We completed 40 years. We look forward to the next 40 years."