.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - During an assembly at St. Joseph school Friday morning, Chip the Husky - the school mascot - was kidnapped, sending the students on a clue-gathering mission around the school.

"We're trying to find Chip," said Cory Doherty, 7. "In the morning, we were talking about co-operation, and then the power went off and Chip was taken."

Mary Cairns, 11, left, places dominoes along a chalk outline, while Danielle Barnet keeps her eyes open for clues. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

"He's being held hostage!" piped in Mackenzie Baker, 9.

The event was planned by school administration, as part of the Positive Behaviour Support program (PBS).

The student are "all in multi-age groups, and they're in units (of 21). They have become 'PBS value analysts' and get tags and T-shirts," said Simone Gessler, the assistant principal of the school.

The kids found clues by completing activities that related to positive behaviour and teamwork.

By lunch time, the search for clues was already well underway.

"We got a really odd clue - a footprint, and a wheel," said Baker. "They probably dragged Chip into a vehicle and drove off."

Baker said they had found other mysterious clues as well - a paw print that Baker thinks may belong to either a dog or a wolverine, but is definitely too small to be Chip's.

Despite a growing pool of evidence, the young analysts were no closer to finding the culprits by the end of the morning.

"All we know so far was that the Non-Respect Gang took him," said Brandon Wood.

But by the end of the day, when all the investigative units met back in the gym and combined their clues, they figured out where Chip was being held: the storage room of the gym.

Chip was found in the room, unharmed.