Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

RESOLUTE BAY (Jun 22/98) - For most teachers, the idea of leading a group of teenagers across 200 kilometres of sea ice on snowmobiles would be a harrowing one.

For others, including Qarmartalik school principal Max VanderVoet, the experience is one he'll relish long after his time in Resolute Bay has drawn to a close.

"We went out on May 25 for eight days. It was mainly organized for the high school students and the junior high school students and they could earn credits as well," says VanderVoet as packed up and prepared to move south after four years of working at Qarmartalik school.

The credits earned by the students during the spring camp fall under the category of Career Technology Studies (CTS) credits. Part of the Alberta and the NWT curriculums, CTS credits allow students to earn credits towards their diplomas while concentrating on practical skills backed up by theory.

"For example, they built a qamotiq with the elders and got real hands-on skills," says VanderVoet.

So, after hiring a group of elders and guides with strong land skills, VanderVoet and his 16 students crossed the Barrow Strait and headed south to Somerset Island.

"Somerset is the place where people from Resolute go for the summer. There's a little bit more vegetation and a few more animals. It's a recreational land and a hunting land," says VanderVoet, who adds that there are signs that the caribou are changing their migration patterns again and heading back to Somerset Island.

The party took a total of 14 snowmobiles with them and VanderVoet says this in itself was a learning experience for the students.

"The whole trip took about 12 hours because there were so many ski-doos and so many problems. It's amazing how much these people know about their ski-doos. A few people learned a lot that way."

VanderVoet says the students also learned a lot about physics by watching how the qamotiqs handled the trip.

"To really see how they work is fantastic. They're so flexible and they turn every nook and cranny and don't break. There's no hydraulics, it's basically just sinew and wood."

After reaching their destination, they had to set up their tents in 30- to 40-km/h winds and blowing snow. The group spent the first two days tent-bound.

"The students learned what that kind of life was all about. But everybody coped ... they played games," says VanderVoet.

Once the weather cleared, the students fished and visited other, more inland lakes on the island.

"We did a lot of exploring and scouting and we found fish in a lake the elders didn't know about. It was interesting to know there might be lakes that have never been touched."

The trip home also proved interesting due to the warm weather. VanderVoet says they faced everything from terrible fog to large cracks in the sea ice and that the route required quite a bit of navigation and route selection.

Selena Kalluk says this was the scariest part of the trip for her.

"When we were coming back, there was a crack in the ice that was pretty scary. We had to slide the qamotiqs across them. They were about three and a half thick," says Kalluk.

Because she hadn't been camping in so long, the trip was a lot of fun for Kalluk as well as being educational.

"I learned a lot of things. What to stay away from, predicting the upcoming weather, how to pack qamotiqs, cooking, fishing even. It was a lot of fun ... but after eight days, I was happy to come home."

The students earned a total of 15 CTS credits during the spring camp.