Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Nov 02/05) - The seniors at the Jonah Amitnaaq school have Europe on their minds and a lot of fund-raising in store to reach their goal.

The 13 potential graduates want to travel to England and France in July 2006. They believe they can do it for $60,000.

Fund-raising has begun and the students are excited. "I think it has been pretty good. We've only been at it a couple of weeks and we have raised around $4,000," said student Mariele DePeuter.

"We can do it. We have been working hard and we're hoping we can get enough," said 17-year-old Moses Niuqtuq.

Both students hope to go on to post-secondary education; Niuqtuq in Medicine Hat and DePeuter in Winnipeg.

Their English teacher Lynn Goodwin has been helping the students with their efforts and said a trip could be a valuable experience.

"I think the most important thing is that they will learn about themselves if they are in another culture," said Goodwin.

She sees the trip as being a part of Tunnganarniq and they will learn about their own cultural identity. A different country could show them what is unique about Inuit culture.

Aside from sightseeing - Niuqtuq points out Big Ben as a landmark he'd like to see - they will be sharing Inuit culture with Europeans.

"We could learn about other cultures and meet new people," said Niuqtuq.

They plan to demonstrate throat singing and drum dancing as a part of the trip. A journal describing the trip in Inuktitut is also a part of the goal.

Many of these youth have been together in school for years. This trip would be one last hurrah for the group.

"We've studied (Europe) in school and we could see it first hand. It is something to look forward to after graduation," said DePeuter.

The $60,000 goal is lofty but the students have already held movie nights, teen dances, bake sales and an arcade night in Baker Lake to get started.