ULUKHAKTOK/HOLMAN
Students at Helen Kalvak Elihakvik School are learning more than just construction skills this spring thanks to a pilot project that aims to build resiliency among youth in the community.

Teacher Richard McKinnon said students in Grades seven to 12 are assembling two cabins which will be used at Fish Lake for on-the-land programs. Younger students, elders and community volunteers are also helping with the build.

The school received a $50,000 grant from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment for the project as part of its Education Renewal initiative, said John Stewart, the department's director of school and instructional services.

Part of the initiative involves developing base skills, such as learning to set achievable goals and the ability to work through problems, so that students are better equipped to perform tasks, including those in the classroom, Stewart said.

"The education renewal work is supporting initiatives that help to build the things that learning is then constructed on top of," he said. "Resiliency is fundamentally about helping build coping skills, goal-setting, helping develop healthy relationships, leadership skills and also awareness for students and the people running resiliency programs of risk factors."

Other resiliency programs are taking place in Ndilo, Hay River, Hay River Reserve, Fort Providence, Aklavik and Fort McPherson, Stewart said.

Helen Kalvak Elihakvik's project was chosen because it met the department's criteria for funding, including its level of student engagement and the integration of local culture, he said.

Construction on the cabins began in January, McKinnon said. Since then, he and other staff members have seen a change at the school.

"You start to notice that some of the kids now are just taking on a natural leadership role," he said. "They're just realizing they have that strength inside, not just in the building but in the classroom."

Fostering that leadership means giving students a chance to practice their organizational and management skills.

It also means developing trust, McKinnon said.

Students take turns setting weekly goals for the construction, then assign the required jobs to fellow students.

Students have to effectively communicate and carry out tasks to ensure goals are met, McKinnon said.

"The construction process is not just building cabins, it's actually building skills the kids can use in day-to-day life," he said.

Being involved in the entire building process from start to finish also fosters a feeling of pride among the school community, McKinnon added.

"There is a sense of ownership," he said. "They're (invested) in the school more, they're (invested) in the cabin more."

Once complete, the cabins will be used for trips, as well as what McKinnon described as "coming of age" programs where boys and girls will participate in gender-specific camping trips with positive role models from the community.

"It's a chance to openly talk about their concerns, their issues, to share, to learn from one another, learn some traditional knowledge and skills, but also learn how to deal with life," McKinnon said. "One of the biggest problems for kids is developing those coping mechanisms that we take for granted sometimes as an adult."

The programming will integrate elders' teachings into lessons, he said.

"It's a combination of mental health and cultural health, how can they be meshed together and how can we support them," he said.

McKinnon said the project helps tie together the values already being promoted at the school.

"It's not simply the construction of the cabin," he said.

"I noticed just recently actually, a student was upset, rather than simply turning away from it, they had another student to talk to. We're starting to see some of that networking coming about."

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