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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The week-long Junior Canadian Rangers and G Division RCMP Youth Academy came to an end on Thursday with a graduation ceremony at the Legislative Assembly.

Mariah Lucas, left, 16, from Sachs Harbour, embraces bunkmate, teammate, and new friend Rebecca Gully, 15, from Fort Good Hope after the academy's closing ceremonies in the Legislative Assembly. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo

The 15 graduates, aged 15 to 18, from around the NWT arrived in Yellowknife May 11 and have participated in a week of military and RCMP training, life skills education, survival training, and gained some invaluable life skills.

They were taught police defence tactics, traffic services, wilderness first aid, and search and rescue training. They also participated in the RCMP physical ability recruitment evaluation, a community check stop and were given a presentation about trained RCMP police dogs.

"Our idea behind the academy was to offer to youth between 15 and 19 years of age an opportunity to come into Yellowknife and have exposure to both the RCMP a well as the military," said RCMP Corporal Tammy McKenzie. "The best way that we identified to do that was to use ... contacts in the communities where there was a Junior Canadian Ranger youth group."

"It's been an exciting week," said Captain Sharon Low of the First Canadian Ranger Patrol Group. "It's always fun working with kids and enjoying their energy and enthusiasm."

All of the youth academy activities were taught in conjunction with the central message that continuing education and personal development pays off.

"Self-confidence is going to be the best quality they could have acquired to be successful in the future,"said Low. "They need to know that there's opportunities out there for them ... that they can even bring back to their communities and share with their families and be successful and remain in the North. I think that's important too: that there's a successful lifestyle in the North, you don't always have to go south for that."

"Our main focus was promoting continuing education and we provided them with the opportunity to see what was available not only just within the RCMP or the military for future goals, but by continuing their education, all the doors and options that open up to them." said McKenzie.

The academy accepted 15 youth to the academy based on their interest in RCMP or military careers and the dedication they've shown to their academics. Low said the decisions were based on student applications, RCMP input, Junior Canadian Ranger program input, and local schools.

"The schools as well were involved because we wanted to make sure...the youth was already committed to their education and this would follow through on that success," she said.

This is the first year a program like this has been offered in the NWT but McKenzie said a similar joint RCMP-Canadian military youth academy initiative has been operating in Nunavut for the past three years.

"Without the help of the GNWT Department of Education Culture and Employment and the First Ranger Patrol Group who partnered with us, I don't think any three of us could of pulled it off separately," said Chief Superintendent Wade Blake, commanding officer in charge of the "G" Division RCMP. "The three of us together is why it turned out like it did."

The participating junior rangers may not have the same big picture in mind, but they were very enthusiastic about the experience.

"There's new techniques you could learn each and every day," said Mariah Lucas, 16, a Junior Ranger from Sachs Harbour.. "There's always new challenges."

"I learned search and rescue, how to do it (properly) and a lot more efficient," said Garret Yakeleya, 17, from Tulita.

"This whole experience, this whole trip, was actually awesome and there's nothing else I could explain ... better than just 'awesome'."

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