Taking up residence
Nirlungayuks enjoy their role in students' home away from home

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Jun 04/99) - One of the first things students learn about living in residence is that birthdays are a big deal: a really big deal.

Water balloons and hoses tend to be the order of the day. One way or another, the birthday boy or girl is going to get soaked. Another thing that becomes quite obvious is that paybacks can be rather unpleasant. After one male resident played a joke on a female resident, she and her colleagues teamed up to exact revenge. They wrapped him in a blanket and tied him to a support beam.

"Just long enough to take a couple of pictures and then they blackmailed him to leave them alone," said Brenda Nirlungayuk.

Brenda, it should be noted, is not one of the students. Yet she and her husband Stanley are residents, and witnesses to the assortment of shenanigans that periodically take place in the building where the 10 students live.

Student April Bell claims Brenda is more than just an innocent bystander.

"All the pranks are Brenda's ideas," she contended, with a smile on her face.

As managers of the residence, this is the environment Brenda and Stanley inhabit, if not help to create. They, along with their own four children: Sidonie, 9, Malorey, 7, Victoria, 5, and nine-and-a-half month old Shelton, have come to know this lifestyle over the past two years (with the obvious exception of Shelton who came into the picture more recently). They plan to do it again next year.

This past year has been an experiment of sorts. The residence, where the Nirlungayuks have their own quarters, became co-ed in September. Things have worked out very well though, Brenda said.

"They seemed to have pulled together like a real family," she said.

Student Paul Simon concurred.

"It's a family environment. Everybody loves each other and hates each other," he said in jest.

When asked how the Nirlungayuks stack up as managers, Gino Kotchea gave them the thumbs up.

"Good job," he said.

Jeremiah Harris said Brenda is better than any other manager he can remember.

That's pretty high praise coming from the people over whom she and Stanley have to enforce the rules. There are curfews to be observed and chores to be done. When the rules are broken, more chores are added. What's the most hated chore?

"The bathroom, especially the boys'. Who wants to clean up after six messy boys?" Brenda laughed.

With final exams approaching, one might expect that things are beginning to get studiously quiet around the building.

"Oh heck no. It gets worse near the end of the year," she said, explaining that the students often take out their exam stress on each other.

Although they spend extra study time in school, they still come to her for academic help on occasion. She can usually be of assistance with English, but the older students' math is another story, she admitted.

"Some of the math they do now...they do stump me sometimes," she said.

Quite often, the students also come to her with personal issues and like to talk. "We treat them like mature adults," she said. "They come to us for guidance."

In less than a month, three of the students will be graduating. Brenda said it's similar to losing her own children.

"They are my family. We've had some of the girls for two years," she said, adding that most of her memories are of barbecues, picnics, renting movies and rides with the students.

"Even when they're gone on the weekend it gets boring around here. I like a full house. But some of them will visit and some of them have e-mail so we'll e-mail each other."