PANGNIRTUNG - May was hotter than usual for 13 Pangnirtung high school students, who traded in their parkas for swimsuits and travelled to Mexico last month.

Attagoyuk high school student Patricia Nakashuk holds up a horseshoe crab in Tizimin, Mexico. She travelled south with 12 of her classmates in May. - photo courtesy of Kimberley Chapelle

The Grade 12 students, who are part of the Pangnirtung Youth Leadership Initiative (PYLI) at Attagoyuk School, raised nearly $70,000 since September to pay for the trip themselves.

"We had to do lots of fundraising - loonie/toonie sales, dances, car washes, window washing and a lot more," said student Ken Kilabuk. "It was pretty hard work, but it was worth it."

Between May 14 and 26, the group played beach volleyball, visited the Mayan ruins of Ek Balam and learned how to make traditional tortillas from women in a small Mayan village.

For student Mandy Qaqasiq, one of the highlights of the trip was the time she spent in the water. "It was so hot! We stayed in the swimming pool to keep cool," she said. "I learned how to swim when I was down there."

She said she also enjoyed the shopping, hanging out on the beach and seeing some of the wildlife.

"We saw crocodiles and flamingos, and that was great to see."

The PYLI students approached Halie MacNeil, a Grade 11 and 12 teacher and one of the youth group's founders, with the idea of a trip last fall.

Originally the group hoped to travel to Costa Rica, but couldn't because some students lacked passports.

"A lot of times in the past, the kids just went to Iqaluit," said MacNeil, who chaperoned the trip along with RCMP Const. Chris Smith, Attagoyuk teacher Kimberley Chapelle, and Attagoyuk student mentor Keith Angnakak.

The trip was planned with the help of the Mexico-based Language Abroad School, which organized day tours and provided bilingual tour guides

"We did a lot of off-the-beat activities, so the kids kind of felt like they were the only ones there," MacNeil said.

The students also brought a bit of home with them, and demonstrated traditional songs, throat singing and Inuit games for a crowd of about 30 people from around the world at a barbecue hosted by Languages Abroad.

Many of the group took along their traditional amauti, and one student brought a drum, according to MacNeil.

Qaqasiq said she shared her throat singing skills with the crowd.

"I tried to teach them, but it was so hard to. But we had a lot of fun," she said.

"They were out of their element, but they really took a leadership role," MacNeil said. "I couldn't believe how confident and vocal they were about expressing their own culture."

The teacher said she hopes to see a group travel to Cuba next year.

"It gives them something to do, it keeps them out of trouble, and for some it keeps them in school," she said. "We have kids that last year dropped out, the year before dropped out, but it gave them a sense of direction, it gave them a sense of belonging, and they really stuck with it."

Const. Smith agreed.

"Initially it takes you back a step, that the kids have this much enthusiasm," he said. "In a place this small these are huge goals, huge visions."