SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A pair of K'alemi Dene School students were the centre of attention in the school's foyer last Friday as they accepted their diplomas. Shania Richter-Beaulieu and Kody Baton were surrounded by family members, well-wishers, fellow students and school staff as they officially became the school's graduates of 2015.

Principal Eileen Erasmus and school elder Mary Jane Francois offered some words of wisdom before Yellowknives Dene Chief Ed Sangris arrived to give a speech celebrating the students' accomplishments.

Erasmus said the school graduates between two and four students each year, and mark the occasions with a feast.

"And then our school elder makes a pair of slippers for our grads," she said. "So they've got a little piece of us as they go forward in life. And this year our board gave each graduate a brand new Mac Airbook."

Since the graduating class is so small the students don't get the traditional prom or formal, she said.

"We do other little small things for them," she said. "The teachers take them out for a nice dinner or we rent the bowling alley."

K'alemi Dene high school is a little different from the other high school programs in town, said Erasmus. Sir John Franklin School and St. Patrick School set their courses at the beginning of the year and students sign up for them. At the school in Ndilo the teachers decide what courses to teach based on the credits their students need to graduate, said Erasmus.

"It's a community school," she said. "We're ... able to be a little more flexible."

She said students get more time to finish courses than they would at schools outside the community.

"If your math course took you a year-and-a-half you could take a year-and-a-half on it here."

Erasmus said there are a number of other students nearing the graduating point but couldn't remember exactly how many.

Erasmus said Baton comes from Deline and started attending K'alemi Dene before he started high school.

"He's not sure what he's going to do yet but he knows he's going to go on," she said. "He's quite quiet but he's got a wicked sense of humour. He's a really talented artist."

Richter Beaulieu said she's lived in Yellowknife her whole life, and has attended K'alemi Dene since kindergarten.

"It was a fun experience," she said, adding that the smaller classroom sizes suited her. She said she spent her time at the school in classrooms with between 15 and 20 students.

"In theory, it's easier for the teachers to teach the students. It's less hectic."

One of the perks of attending the school is students don't have to pay for trips, she said.

"Other schools have to pay for their own trips - our school we didn't have to pay," she said. "We went to New York and Toronto, and Los Angeles and Arizona and Florida and most recently we just went to Hawaii."

She said she hasn't done much with her new silver laptop computer yet.

"Just uploaded pictures recently," she said.

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