John Curran
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 3, 2007

PAULATUK - For 13-year-old Cheyenne Wolki, life in Paulatuk is really taking off.

Before this year she'd never left the community, except to visit her nine cousins in Inuvik. In the past couple of months, however, she's had two adventures away from home.

The first was in October when she ventured to Yellowknife as part of the BLAST Conference on tobacco. BLAST - which stands for Building Leadership for Action in Schools Today - focuses on prevention of tobacco use through leadership skills development.

"It was really cool," she said. "I liked Yellowknife, it's a fun place."

Her second voyage met her more than halfway.

She was one of 18 students from Angik school who were flown via helicopter to the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen when it was operating close to her home community.

"That was my first time flying in a helicopter," she said. "Paulatuk looked so small."

Getting to meet the researchers and other crew members on the vessel was also exciting, she said.

"It was really great to see all of the fish and other things they've been looking at in the sea."

Kirsten Fleuty, her chaperone for the trip to the icebreaker and her teacher last year, said Wolki is a good student.

"She is very nice and pleasant to have in the classroom," she said.

In Wolki's opinion the best class in school is physical education.

"I really like playing soccer and basketball," she said.

When she's not seeing the North or learning in school, Wolki enjoys hanging out with friends - especially Kourtney Ruben, who turned 16 last Thursday.

"We'll probably have a party for her," said Wolki.