SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - It's been 40 years since the Experimental Teacher Training Program began back in 1969 - but you wouldn't know it - with former students doing themselves proud and giving the group of teenagers confined to the upstairs part of the house a run for their money in the party stakes.

Peter Selastiuk embracing his former classmate – party late-comer Margaret Field – at the first Experimental Teachers Education program reunion last Friday night. - Charlotte Hilling/NNSL photo

Mirth and merriment ensued as the group of nine and their partners reminisced about crazy days, crazy students, and crazy teachers. The late director of the program, Audie Dyer, was remembered particularly fondly.

"He wasn't your typical teacher. One morning we'd come in dragging our behinds and sit there half asleep. Audie jumped up onto the desk and yelled 'good morning!' That got our attention," said Bob Overvold.

For many of the group, this was the first time they had seen each other since the group began to disband in the early 1970s, with former teacher and assistant director of the program, Jean Hodgkinson and former student Sarah Jerome, visiting from Edmonton.

The get-together had none of the trappings of those excruciating high school reunions played out in films and television - but instead felt more like a family reunion.

"We're probably a little tamer too," said Overvold, as old classics such as When a Man Loves a Woman and It's in His Kiss bounced out of the stereo.

When asked who the class troublemakers were, Overvold nominated himself and another man. This was confirmed by Jean Hodgkinson and other classmates.

The class used to play a game called the "hot seat," where they would put people in authority on the spot, and ask them a series of tough questions.

This weekend the roles were reversed, with the students being asked questions such as: should the NWT become a province? And, should abortion be legal?

A question about a sustainable economic development strategy for the North proved the most loathed, often being put back in the hat in favour of another question.

Party late-comer Margaret Field claimed to have been confused by the directions, however her true motives were revealed when she found out the "hot seat" was yet to be played.

"I thought I'd get lost deliberately so I didn't have to make these speeches," she said.

The pioneering class was made up of young people from all over the North who could speak a variety of dialects. These attributes came with a downside, as many students had to put up with bullying from established teachers who had inferior local knowledge.

"We had a lot of problems with other teachers who were very threatened by people who spoke the local language and knew the cultural ways," said Hodgkinson.

Designed for aboriginal students, the program was the first of its kind in the NWT. Before that, students from the North had to go south for teacher training.