Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 19, 2007

CHESTERFIELD INLET - A total of 28 students from across the Kivalliq attended the seventh annual Kivalliq Science Culture Camp in Chesterfield Inlet earlier this month.

The camp, organized and delivered by the Kivalliq Science Educators Community (KSEC), was held at Third Lake.

Elder Louis Autut hops into a kayak to show students the proper way to paddle at the 2007 Kivalliq Science Culture Camp at Third Lake near Chesterfield Inlet earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Glen Brocklebank

It was the second year in a row Chester hosted the event.

KSEC vicepresident Glen Brocklebank chaired the camp, which featured instruction in kayaking, the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation and first aid.

Brocklebank said although students earn two highschool credits for attending the welldefined program, the land and weather often have their own programs.

"You have to respect the land and that's why we follow our elders' lead from day to day," said Brocklebank. "Our two camp elders this year, Louis Autut and Joe Issaluk, spoke to the youth daily about kayaking, land navigation and stories from their lives.

"Our elders did an absolutely fantastic job, as they do every year."

Brocklebank said hosting the camp for a secondstraight year made things easier, and the event ran smoother than it did in 2006.

He said organizers received a lot of help from Daucy Autut, who rearranged her work schedule to volunteer at the camp for a week.

"Daucy's (Autut) work was invaluable to this year's camp.

"She handled all the food and helped with the organization, cleanup ... every aspect of the camp.

"I can't possibly pay her back or thank her enough for all the help she gave us."

Brocklebank said KSEC members, including one teacher from each Kivalliq high school, delivered the camp's instructional program.

He said while kayaking has become synonymous with Chester and remains the mostpopular aspect of the camp among most students, the GPS instruction was greatly improved this year due to a gift of 12 Garmon GPS's and maps from the Areva company of Baker Lake.

"Thanks to this donation the GPS will be a big component of all our future camps, and the Kivalliq science program, as well.

"It was a wonderful gift to the camp, which we greatly appreciate.

"Last year we only had five, so, really, one student would know how to do it and his or her teammate would just kind of follow along.

"This year every student learned with their own GPS, so they really got to understand how they work, which was huge for our camp."