Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

QIKIQTARJUAQ/BROUGHTON ISLAND
Six students from one of Nunavut's smallest communities will be honoured in a ceremony on June 6 when Qikiqtarjuaq celebrates its largest graduation class to date.

The Inuksuit School graduates are Ronald Kownirk, back row left, Marissa Kuniliusie, Jenny Mosesie, Vicky Metuq and, Sarah Audlakiak, front row left, and Karen Kooneeliusie. They will be honoured on June 6 when Qikiqtarjuaq celebrates its largest graduation class to date. - photo courtesy of Cheryl Hunt

The Grade 12 students from Inuksuit School - Jenny Mosesie, Karen Kooneeliusie, Vicky Metuq, Ronald Kownirk, Sarah Audlakiak and Marisa Kuniliusie - passed all their exams and can now look towards a brighter future.

"It feels really good," said Kooneeliusie. "It's a feeling I can't really explain."

Inuksuit School teacher Cheryl Hunt, who taught the students this academic year, said they were a wonderful group to work with.

"I am super happy for them and so proud that I had the opportunity to be their teacher," she said. "They worked really hard to achieve this."

To prepare for the Alberta Grade 12 Diploma Examinations, the students had a double period every day of the week from August to December, and took the exams in January.

One day in March, they all showed up at the school brandishing very important documents.

"They came in with their individual letters, telling them they'd passed," Hunt said. "We really busted our butts to prepare for that and it paid off."

In a community with a little more than 500 residents, graduation is a momentous occasion.

The students recently came back from a week-long celebratory field trip to southern Ontario, where they visited famous landmarks in Niagara Falls, Ottawa and Toronto.

Fundraising for the trip spanned several months and they were the first group from Inuksuit School to take part in a field trip in years.

"They did a bake sale, a cake walk, a Loonie Toonie night and started an after-school canteen in September," Hunt said. "They managed to raise $18,000 to go on this trip."

Some of the students, such as Mosesie and Kuniliusie, are looking at the RCMP as a potential future employer.

They have already completed the summer student program and want to serve their community.

Others have set their sights on studying at Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottawa.

Uqqummiut MLA James Arreak praised the students at the legislative assembly on May 15.

"I am extremely proud of their accomplishment, and they will now serve as role models for the youth in the lower grades," Arreak said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.