ARVIAT
Arviat students brought home three gold medals from the Nunavut Skills competition this past week.

Joe Shamee and Samuel Pauppa, right, put in a solid showing in the TV-video production category during their first appearance at a Skills Nunavut competition in Iqaluit. - photo courtesy of Gord Billard

Ethan Tassiuk and Elena Akammak struck gold in TV/Video production, while Damaris Nutarasungnik took gold in photography.

They both attended the Skills Nunavut competition in Iqaluit.

Kyle Schaubroeck competed in Yellowknife and took home gold in small engine repair.

Tassiuk, 16, got hooked on TV/Video production through his involvement with the Arviat Film Society.

He said he enjoys both the camera work and the editing process.

"One of the more challenging parts is coming up with ideas for a TV or video project," said Tassiuk.

"I'm kind of nervous about going to the national competition in Saskatoon.

"The best part of it is Kyle is going too, and he's my best friend."

Akammak, 16, also enjoys shooting and editing the action.

She said it's tough, sometimes, because not everyone likes having a video camera pointed at them.

"I always ask for permission first," said Akammak.

"The competition will be a bit harder in Saskatoon, but it should be a lot of fun."

Schaubroeck, 16, said there were five competing with him for gold in Yellowknife.

He said he thought one was a better mechanic, so he was surprised to win.

"One competitor sounded like he was better than me," said Schaubroeck.

"That kind of made me nervous, so I wasn't really thinking straight through the whole competition.

"He was a good talker.

"I love taking things apart and putting them back together, which I do all the time in my garage."

Nutarasungnik, 14, has only been taking photos for the past six months.

She said she's really looking forward to Saskatoon.

"There were three people competing against me in Iqaluit, and I found the competition pretty good," said Nutarasungnik.

"We had to take photos, then edit and export them.

"I'm excited about getting the chance to compete at the nationals."

Kim Dymond runs the hairstyling club at John Arnalukjuak High School (JAHS), and was one of the teachers to accompany the Arviat students to Iqaluit.

Dymond said most JAHS clubs began in October or November, and met once a week until about a month prior to the competition.

She said things then began to ramp up, with some clubs meeting twice a week and others all day on Saturday.

"I started with 22 girls practising hairstyling back in October," said Dymond.

"I had to choose two girls for the competition, but that doesn't mean the rest of them weren't good enough.

"I chose the two who came every day and practised really hard.

"I told the others to come back next year and we'll work on their skills again."

Dymond said it's great to do well at a competition, but it's not the end of the world if her students don't win a medal.

She said there's a lot more to the program than just winning gold, silver or bronze.

"It really doesn't matter if they don't win a medal.

"They're learning a skill they can use in their future, no matter what medal they win or don't win."

The Skills Canada competition runs May 27 to 30 in Saskatoon, with students usually accompanied by their skills leader.

Gord Billard accompanied his TV/Video production students to Iqaluit.

He said the next three weeks will be fairly intense, as they hone their skills in preparation for the nationals.

"Ethan (Tassiuk) and Elena's (Akammak) video in Iqaluit was very good, and it has a lot of potential," said Billard.

"I could see a lot of areas that were already very good, and a lot of others that really needed to be improved.

"They can learn a lot more by making those improvements.

"The video they produced is cute in a few areas, funny and engaging."

Billard will meet with Tassiuk and Akammak several times during the next few weeks to look at their video more closely.

He said he also plans to have them look at videos that have won in the past.

"We'll try to identify why they won, then incorporate some of what we see as good in other videos into their work.

"That's something we haven't done enough of - look at other videos, see what makes them good, and try to use the same elements in ours.

"They're fairly limited in what they can do in the competition in terms of special effects and in-camera stuff.

"They don't want to see a lot of fancy bells and whistles; but a good story told with simple fades, dissolves and that kind of thing."