Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Nov 09/05) - The Jonah Amitnaaq secondary school (JASS) Multi-Media Club completed one of its biggest challenges of the year this past weekend in Baker Lake.

Now in its third year, the 2005 edition of the club has 10 students participating.

Instructor Craig Vincent said the program attracts the school's top students, which means turnover is often high.

"I find the cream of the crop comes out for this club and they're very, very busy," explains Vincent.

"As they enter their senior years they get caught up in other things that command a great deal of their time, so the media club has a high turnover rate every year.

"So, I've kind of taken the younger students in Grade 7 to 9 under my wing."

A select group of club members filmed the Nunavut Under-14 male and female soccer territorials this past weekend.

The students also provided a live video feed to the school's main area for local fans to enjoy the action.

The crew videotaped about 38 hours of action during the tournament.

"The club provides an essential service by doing this because the standing-room only on the stage is quite limited.

"Local fans need the live feed to see the games.

"We also provide DVD copies of the games to anyone who wants them."

Vincent said the JASS Multi-Media Club produced an in-house newsletter during the past school year.

This year he'd like the club to produce articles on events in and around the school for submission to outside publications.

"That type of empowerment would really pique their interest a lot more in the program. It's always beneficial to have your work produced in a forum that prompts feedback."

Club members learn a bit about Adobe Photoshop and video editing during the year, but the applications tend to be a bit challenging for them.

Vincent said the students don't have the technical background to be able to slip comfortably into new software programs.

"I, basically, have to teach them everything from scratch and that can be quite time consuming.

"But, outside of that, the club members are really gung-ho and willing to do just about anything within reason.

"And, at the end of the day, the program is about participation, not quality or quantity."