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St. Pat's students sending 1,500 books to Inuvik library Two students in the independent study program created social justice project
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, June 22, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOKNIFE
When two St. Patrick High School students heard of the new Inuvik library's need for up-to-date books, they took on the issue as part of their social justice program for their religion course.
Courtney Rocher, 16, Jordon Ross, 16, and teacher Karyne Daniels gathered more than 1,500 books to send to Inuvik's new library as well as other communities in the North. - photo courtesy of Sean Hougan
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Their teacher, Karyne Daniels, was all too happy to help.
Daniels said part of the curriculum requires students to plan how they would tackle a social issue, but when there is a smaller class they can do more hands-on work and actually campaign for the issue themselves instead of just planning how to do it.
That's what Courtney Rocher, 16, and Jordan Ross, 16, did. They went class-to-class asking fellow students for any books they had to give away, sent home letters from school, advertised on the school's TV screens and went out into the community.
Rocher said she enjoyed the task.
"It's satisfying helping other people," she said. "And in our religion class we learn how important it is to read."
Soon the students were swamped with books, gathering more than 1,500 in mere weeks.
"People were very generous and donated everything they had," said Daniels.
She said they sorted the books to go to Inuvik by whether or not they'd been published in the last 10 years, because the library there already has its stock of older books. Hardcovers were also quick to be taken in as they'll need to withstand lots of use.
The issue was first brought up in the legislative assembly by Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins. Hawkins helped the students by finding homes in other Northern communities for the older books that didn't go to Inuvik.
He also took care of the transportation, picking up the books at St. Pat's this past week and ensuring they got where they needed to go.
Daniels commended the MLA for his help, but was most proud of her students.
"It's another great example of teenagers working hard and doing good for other people," she said.
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