Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Monday, July 2, 2007

IQALUIT - An unshakable spirit of independence marked this year's graduating students from Nunavut Arctic College's teaching and nursing programs, whose convocation ceremony was held in Courtroom 1 of the Iqaluit Justice Building on June 8.

The normally drab setting was brightened by dozens of blue ribbons and balloons and a crowd of approximately 80 family members and friends who smiled down upon the proud graduates.

Four women graduated from the College's nursing program: Karen Dunphy of Newfoundland; Charlotte Osler and Lynda Porter of Iqaluit; and Charlotte Zawadski of Rankin Inlet.

Zawadski, 23, of Rankin Inlet, went through a lot to get her degree, she said.

Zawadski began the four-year program in 2003 with a seven-month-old daughter in tow, her husband staying behind in Rankin Inlet to work as a fisheries officer.

A second child would follow in October 2005.

"It was really difficult," said Zawadski. "I knew nursing school was what I wanted to do. So I got through it."

Her struggle to complete the degree gave her a newfound confidence, added Zawadski.

"That's how I look at it - very stressful, but it benefited me a lot. It showed me that I can do things on my own - that I don't depend upon anybody. If I needed anything, I went and got it myself.

"In raising my daughters, I wanted them to have a different future, where they didn't have to live paycheque to paycheque."

A bout with appendicitis during her second pregnancy helped Zawadski connect with her patients.

"I had to go into emergency surgery," she said. "I became the patient. It was hard, because you're in there for 24 hours, for three days, so I can relate to the patients. After the second day, I wanted to go home!"

Zawadski has a nursing job lined up back home in Rankin Inlet. And she's not done studying yet.

"I'll be writing my registered nursing exam in October," she said.

The College also graduated three women from the Nunavut Teacher Education Program: Margaret Akulujuk and Amanda Kuluguqtuq of Pangnirtung; and Sylvia Inuarak of Coral Harbour.

Inuarak, the teaching program's valedictorian, was working as a teacher's aide and Inuktutuk translator before she took up her teaching degree in 2003.

"After I had my daughter (who is now six years old), I knew I had to get a career. Not just for me, but for her."

Inuarak contemplated quitting the program several times, but the support from her teachers and classmates convinced her to stick with it.

This fall she'll have a teaching job at Sakku School in Coral Harbour. She's not alone among the employed.

"We hear a lot that there is a shortage of Inuit teachers," Inuarak said of her class during her speech. "Now there are three less positions to worry about. We all have jobs waiting for us as teachers."

Annie Demcheson of Iqaluit also graduated as a classroom support assistant.