KIVALLIQ - The work of a dedicated group of Kivalliq science educators has earned national recognition.

The Kivalliq Science Educators' Community (KSEC) was named the 2009 winner of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) Award for Science Promotion earlier this month.

The NSERC's national award comes with $25,000 for KSEC to utilize on its science programs.

Annual programs such as the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair, Science Engineering Technology Challenge, and Culture and Science Camp are all KSEC-sponsored events.

The 16-year-old organization also names a Kivalliq male and female graduate as its science students of the year, and provides funding to schools that agree to hold activities during math month.

KSEC president Jim Kreuger said the award was incredible news.

He said the award speaks to the 16-year history of the organization, and the work of all those who were involved with it during that time.

"The real mission of the KSEC is to engage youth and connect teachers to each another," said Kreuger.

"We come up with ways to get youth interested in science, because the members of our community are teachers who believe science is an important part of our futures.

"Teachers have to have the confidence to get science out of the classroom and into the community, or bring the community into the classroom.

"The efforts of our organization, although not planned, have helped improve the confidence and professionalism of science teachers across the region."

Students from the region's bigger schools, to those in the smallest, have excelled in KSEC activities, showing the size of one's home community is no barrier to excelling in science.

The tiny community of Chesterfield Inlet has sent at least one Victor Sammurtok student to the Canada-wide Science Fair for the past eight years.

Kreuger said, in his opinion, success at the annual science fair is related to the stability of the teaching force at any given school.

"Victor Sammurtok has had very strong teachers who have stayed in the community," said Kreuger.

"Many Kivalliq teachers are around for about three years and then go.

"Schools that have difficulty being successful in this program are usually schools that have a continues turnover of teachers.

"Those schools are doing good work, but, to get to Victor Sammurtok's level, you have to be around for awhile and learn what's expected."

Kreuger said the Kivalliq could have the best science programs in the world, but that, in itself, wouldn't mean much if it didn't have enough teachers prepared to go the extra mile in working with their students.

He said science projects take a lot of extra time and work, and the region is fortunate to have so many teachers dedicated to their improvement.

"In many ways, our approach is no different than those who coach sports.

"Everyone involved in hockey, for example, do it because they believe in the sport.

"So, when hockey people meet, they're all on a common wavelength about why hockey is valuable to youth.

"That same model applies to our organization, except we're talking about science instead of sports."

The KSEC has already discussed how it wants to spend the $25,000 prize money.

Kreuger said the national award provides an external validation on the work the KSEC has been doing.

He said it's huge to have an organization such as the NSERC validate the fact they're doing a good job in promoting science.

"Hopefully, this will also help us convince our funding partners to continue to support our programs because they cost a lot of money to run.

"Right now, we're fortunate to have great funding partners who believe in what we're doing and we're grateful for that.

"That's why we don't want to put the $25,000 into existing programs, so we've identified some key new areas.

"We're looking at the development of a full-function web page, investing in a C-can to store our Science Culture Camp equipment, and putting money into a fund to cover the costs for teachers and students who may be selected to take part in the Schools on Board Outreach Program, which we're applying to for the first time this year."