Rankin Inlet (Dec 01/04) - The gym at Simon Ford school was alive with the sounds of new discoveries this past week as the Rankin Inlet chapter of Sparks welcomed 14 new members into its fold.

Sparks is the first branch of the Girl Guides of Canada movement that young girls can get involved with.

The Sparks movement has been active in Rankin since the mid-1990s.

The youngsters beamed with pride in front of family members as they recited the Sparks promise and received their new pins.

Rankin Girl Guides of Canada leader Kerry Angidlik says girls who enter Sparks are four and five years of age and usually attend kindergarten or Grade 1 at school.

The Sparks program underwent some changes this past year, the most notable of which is the creation of nine different badges the young participants can now earn over a two-year period.

Each of the Sparks also has a new pink tabard to place their badges on.

Angidlik says the Sparks meet once a week to play games, sing songs and, starting this year, work towards earning their badges.

She says some of the new badges a Spark can work towards earning include Being Me, memory book, Going Outside, The World Around Me, In My Community, Exploring and Being Healthy.

"The new badges are pretty neat," says Angidlik.

"To go after the Being Me badge, for example, a Spark would bring us an item that has special meaning to her and then tell the whole group why it's so special."

Angidlik says Sparks are at an age when children start to develop an awareness of differences and similarities between people. She says being me activities help girls discover things about themselves and reinforce the art of friendship and getting along.

"That fits in well with the Sparks promise of: I promise to share and be a friend. All the Sparks have to know their promise off by heart because they get to recite it during their enrolment. The activities listed for the badges are guidelines and suggestions, so that leaves us free to do activities that are specific to our area."