Cambridge Bay (Oct 30/06) - Cambridge Bay social studies teacher Patti Bligh hopes to make history come alive with a spring trip to the sites of some of the key battles of world wars one and two.

Of course, for any trip from the Arctic to Belgium and France, there is the small matter of money to cover the costs.

"It is absolutely useless living in Nunavut and trying to teach about D-Day or Vimy Ridge," Bligh said.

"We have no cenotaph in the North, so on Remembrance day where do you remember or how do you remember so that it's meaningful?" she asked.

Bligh hopes by taking students to see infamous battle sites like Ypres and Normandy Beach they will do better on their tests and grasp an element of Canadian history that can seem remote to residents of the North.

Grade 12 student Kendall Greenley has already been to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands in May, 2005.

While there, she was stunned to see three-year-old Dutch kids sing along to 'O Canada.'

"I want to experience the other parts of Europe that were affected by war and the monuments and everything," she said.

The 10-day tour starts in Belgium in April. Bligh estimates it will cost a total of $83,000 for 15 of her students to go.

The students will also see Paris along the way.

The fundraising is hard work, Bligh said, but the group has raised about $30,000 of the money needed, including $1,200 at a single car wash earlier this fall.

The community has been supportive, Greenley said.

"People are being really supportive because they know that we will get this chance again," she said.