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IQALUIT - Nursing students in Iqaluit were recently awarded with bursaries to recognize their academic achievement.

The Nunavut Nursing Student Bursaries are given out annually by Health and Social Services to the students in each year of study with the highest cumulative grade point averages.

The amount awarded varies from $1,250 to $6,000, depending on the student’s year and GPA from the fall semester at Nunavut Arctic College.

“Especially now that I need it, it sure will help,” said first-year student Kate Kublu of Iglulik.

A mother of two young children, Kublu has managed to maintain high marks while raising a young family at home with her husband.

“I’m always trying to keep ahead with the assignments so it would be easier for me,” she said. “Between family and school work it gets complicated – and (there is) so much homework and reading.”

Kublu said she aspires to become a nurse because of the elders and other people from her community whom could benefit through the profession. I go to school “especially for my home town and for the elders there,” she explained. “Like everyone knows each other. I just love to help.”

Despite the challenges of balancing school and home life, Kublu is enjoying the program immensely.

“I love it. I mean at first I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to school…But when I’m actually in it – whoa! You get to do all this stuff with the lab…and our teachers are great,” she said.

When handing out the bursaries, Fred Montpetit, chief nursing officer for Nunavut, gave recipients high praise for juggling family and work while pursuing a challenging field of study.

“You are la crème de la crème of students out there,” he said. “You are the hardest working students there are.”

Montpetit assured the students that the department was working with health care centres to help them get job placements as quickly as possible, and that the rewards of nursing are worth the effort of schooling.

“You can do this and the reward at the end is just great,” he said.

There are currently 18 students enrolled in the nursing program at Nunavut Arctic College’s Nunatta campus. That same number of students have graduated from the four-year program, which will soon celebrate its 10th anniversary.

“The goal is for the program to prepare students to work here in the territory,” said Pam Seitz, co-ordinator of health programs at the college. “I would say the majority end up staying.”