Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

REPULSE BAY (Jun 10/98) - With a population of less than 500, Repulse Bay has had few facilities that match those of larger communities ... until now.

Remarkably, the gym at Tusarvik school in Repulse Bay is the largest of all gymnasiums in Nunavut, and quite likely the biggest in the NWT. The gym, expected to be finished in the next few days, is American university regulation size, quite an improvement compared with facilities students once had in the community.

"They (students) say, 'Wow, it's like being in a different town -- like being in a different centre,'" said Leonie Aissaoui, principal of the school.

Department of Public Works project manager Dawn Brigham said the collegiate-size gym (15.2 metres wide by 25.7 metres long by 6.5 metres high) is one of the largest school gymnasiums in the country.

"It's an awesome space," she said. "It's one of the biggest I've seen."

Until a couple of weeks ago when it was opened for the first time, the 200-plus students at the school never had a gym, forcing them to walk to the community centre for physical education class.

Aissaoui said that it was particularly difficult for the younger students to make the trip to the community centre during bad weather.

"It was so stormy and windy," she said. "Many times gym had to be cancelled."

Now, she said, teachers can follow the curriculum because they aren't restricted to using small equipment that can be carried back and forth between the school and the community centre. Classes can also run longer because they are held at the school.

"We won't waste as much time," she said. "Now we can have gym for a half an hour a day. It sure will provide time to develop their skills."

The gymnasium, which also has the community's first stage, is part of a $3.8-million expansion project for the school finished this month that includes a science lab and library, both of which can be used as classrooms.

"People really like to see their children perform -- now we have a stage," said Aissaoui. "Before we had mini-concerts in classrooms. The gym can also be used at night."