BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - April Michel never regrets her decision to go back to school.

"I got to walk down the aisle during the ceremony with my daughters," Donna Camsell, 18, and Genielle Steinwand, 17, she said. "I'm 40 years old, it was wonderful."

The year has not always been an easy one, though it wasn't her courses - biology, social studies, math and English - presenting the biggest challenge.

"I have two little ones too: Kyle, 9, and Jasie, 7," she said.

Because her days were spent at Chief Jimmy Bruneau school in Edzo, she said she wasn't able to get home to Rae to make lunch for the young ones.

"The schools were able to work it out so they could go to class here in Edzo instead of in Rae," she said. "We all came to Edzo each morning together - that was a huge help."

She said she hopes her success in education inspires her children who have yet to complete their time as students.

"In my case I had a friend, Kim Sarasin, who was going back to school," she said. "Her son graduated last year."

Seeing how excited her friend was, coupled with the chance to graduate the same year as her daughters, moved Michel to take action.

"They all inspired me," she said. "It feels so great."

Michel previously attended Sir John Franklin high school in Yellowknife while living in Akaitcho Hall, but said she left before completing high school.

"It had been 20 years since I'd gone to school," she said, adding now she's acquired a taste for education and has no plans to stop learning.

Next year, she said she hopes to take one more math course in Behchoko and then attend Grande Prairie Regional College in Alberta starting in January.

"I'd like to take the business management course and then move home to Behchoko and start my own business," she said. "One of my daughters, Donna, is taking business administration - so we're talking about going into business together when we're done college."