IQALUIT - Traditional activities are part of the school curriculum at Kugaardjuk School in Kugaaruk, where students learn how to make kayaks while earning high school credits.

Fifteen-year-old Jamie Ihakkaq is one of three students from Kugaardjuk School in Kugaaruk who participated in a kayak making course in August to earn credits towards his high school diploma. - photo courtesy of Rob Currie

“We hired two local elders to teach the youth and we had three students from the school,” said project co-ordinator Tony Immingark.

“They are getting five credits towards their CTS (career and technologies studies) course.”

Immingark is also Kugaaruk’s economic development officer. He said the project doesn’t just offer immediate benefit to the students and the elders who teach them, it also provides the students with the possibility of employment down the road.

“By building some kayaks, some knowledge is passed from the elders to the youth and the youth can build the kayak in the future,” he said. “So it’s good in both ways, the traditional and economic.”

The project ran from Aug. 10 to 28. This is the project’s third year, Immingark said.

Last year’s project involved constructing a kayak with traditional materials to be used as a display for future classes. This year, students assisted elders finishing the first traditional kayak while constructing the frame for another to be completed next year, Immingark said.

Students participate in the project year after year, principal Michael MacIntyre said.

“Elders wanted kids to come back for second and third years,” he said.

Each time students participate, they earn skills development credits towards their high school diplomas. Each credit takes 25 hours to complete.

“As long as they get the 25 hours, they get the credit,” MacIntyre said.

MacIntyre said while the traditional skills component of the curriculum used to include other activities such as sewing, which was dropped due to poor attendance, the kayak building course has remained steadily popular. He said the program could expand again to include other traditional activities.

Fifteen-year-old Jamie Ihakkaq said he recognizes the importance of learning traditional skills.

“It’s very important to us Inuit to keep our traditions alive,” he said. “When we grow up, we can teach young students like us.”

Ihakkaq participated in the project last year and said his goal is to build a kayak of his own.

“I would love to make one of my own so I could go around the bay,” he said.

Fellow student Paulie Illuitok, 16, said the best part of making the kayaks was getting to spend time with elders.

“I liked working with elders,” he said.

The project is funded under the community economic development department of the hamlet, Immingark said.