by Ric Stryde
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 13/97) - The end of summer is rapidly approaching and Yellowknife's post-secondary school students are preparing to say goodbye to the city for another season.

There are a lot of choices to make and planning that goes into moving away to school. Who will do the dishes? Who will get the groceries? How do I get a place?

So many questions and so little time, because most students try to stay at home as long as possible, to make as much money as possible, before heading back south.

"I'm going back early because I have training camp for my school's baseball team," says Jeff Leishman, who is in his third year of engineering at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. He leaves Friday.

Pamela Wheeler is excited to go back to Winnipeg because, she says, "It's my last year." She leaves next Thursday for Edmonton, for "a bit of a holiday," and then on to Winnipeg to complete a certificate in massage therapy.

Some students are leaving for post-secondary school for the first time, Kate Gilbert among them.

"I think it will be exciting, and a great change from being in Yellowknife for so long," she says. She plans to take business administration at Mount Royal College in Calgary.

Gilbert admits that she's "a little nervous" because she's spent most of her life in the North and will be living in a big city for the first time.

Leishman says that he was a bit worried before he came back to town because one of the guys he was living with moved out and the rest of them had to scramble to find a new roommate or move out of the place into a smaller one.

"We were lucky to find one," he says.

Other than that, though, Leishman isn't worried. "I pre-registered in March, so everything was done for me," he says.

Wheeler isn't really worried about her third year away from home, either. She's looking forward to going back because she's moving into a new place."

Gilbert doesn't have to worry about finding a place because her friend who is already in Calgary has found them a place to live.

But what if it is not a good place? "I trust her," Gilbert said. "And if it is no good, then I can always stay with my parents."