Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Jun 25/99) - For the fourth consecutive summer, Kim Deneron is back in a familiar role with the Department of Renewable Resources for the summer.

Working as a forest fire management clerk may sound like a very stressful position, but surprisingly, the Liard Valley has generally been spared by fires over the past several decades, she said. Last year was so quiet she wound up being sent to Yellowknife and Fort Simpson to help out during some hectic periods.

The job requires her to control radio traffic and sift through piles of paperwork.

"It's pretty much anything to do with forest fires besides fighting them," she said.

When the job wraps up in August, she will be heading back to Saskatoon to complete her fifth and final year of post-secondary education. Although Deneron, 21, is eligible to graduate with a Indian Teacher Education Degree from the University of Saskatchewan in December, she said she plans to stay for two full semesters in an effort to earn a second degree, this one in arts. She's also set to take over as president of ITE program, one of the few presidents to come from outside of Saskatchewan.

She said she enjoys life in Saskatoon, where she initially expected to find a flat, prairie landscape. It turned out to be a beautiful river valley with huge elm trees. Even with the gorgeous scenery and some old high school friends attending the same university, she longed to come home at first.

"The first month I was there I was so homesick," she recalled. "But after that I didn't want to go home."

With 30 or fewer people in each class, the program isn't overburdened with students either, she noted.

"So it's really good one-on-one instruction with the professors," she said.

In education, she's majoring in Native studies and has a minor in English. The Native studies courses deal with a lot of history, she said. Although some of the material is specific to Saskatchewan, other issues apply practically anywhere, such as discrimination, land claims and residential schools.

Becoming a teacher is something Deneron dreamed of doing since graduating from the Arctic Leadership Program at P.W. Kaesar secondary school in Fort Smith.

The four-time winner of an Amoco scholarship said she aims to come back to Fort Liard and teach because she feels she can make a difference, especially since she's someone from the community. Although cultural programming is improving in the school system, she said she would like to take it one step further in teaching students about their heritage and background.

"When I was here they didn't have Slavey classes and now they do. It's a really good program," she remarked. She even got a chance to fill in as a teacher at Echo Dene school over the past month.

"I was so nervous because it was my first time to actually substitute," she said. "But it went really well...it was neat."

Many of the students recognized her, but it took a while before she recalled who some of them were, she admitted.

"The last time I saw them they were pretty much babies," said Deneron. "It doesn't feel like I've been out of high school that long."