RANKIN INLET - A group of Grade 12 students from Rankin Inlet had the chance to test the waters at a number of post-secondary institutions earlier this month.

Gary Noolook of Rankin Inlet almost gets eaten by a fake snake at the Rainforest Cafe in downtown Niagara Falls during MUI's annual grad trip. - photo courtesy of Katharine O'Connell

The students stopped in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec and Niagara Falls as part of Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik's (MUI) third annual grad trip.

The potential grads who made the trip from Rankin were Kris Okpatauyak, David Kakuktinniq, Nathan Tulugak, Arsene Niakrok, James Sandy, Rico Manitok, Gary Noolook, Ben Angoshadluk, Gordon Aupilardjuk, Ashley Burton, Jamila Gordon, Savannah Pilakapsi and Kayla Bruce.

They were joined for one day by fellow grad Jeremiah Issaluk, who is taking heavy-equipment training in Ontario.

MUI teachers Katharine O'Connell and Charlie Anderson accompanied the students.

O'Connell said the students enjoyed every minute of this year's trip.

She said a number of them became quite keen with Algonquin College in Ottawa.

"They were very impressed with the Algonquin campus during the tour," said O'Connell.

"A number of them plan to apply to Algonquin and another, Ashley Burton, has been accepted to the Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) program and got to meet one of her teachers while we were in Ottawa.

"We did a wide range of activities so every student got something they're interested in."

O'Connell said she was a little concerned about a side visit to Niagara Falls during the trip, but the timing worked perfectly for the group.

She said the students also visited Red River College in Winnipeg and Carleton University in Ottawa.

"Carleton has an aboriginal studies program and it's affiliated with NS, so we thought it would be a better fit for some of the students this year than Ottawa University.

"And, some of the other programming at Carleton is also geared more towards our students.

"We did Ottawa U. the past two years, but this year we felt Carleton just made more sense for us."

The students enjoyed the well-known tunnel system beneath Carleton and, being from Rankin, were impressed by its two hockey arenas.

O'Connell said this was the first year the male students outnumbered the females on the trip.

She said that led to areas like engineering, automotive and carpentry being high on the students' to-be-checked-out list.

"Whether they apply this year or not, they're getting ideas about what they want to do and where they want to be and that's the whole idea behind the trip.

"It's something they'll always remember, even the students who decide not to go away for school, and there's a lot of things we do in the south they might, otherwise, never get the chance to do.

"The grad trip is not something that's just handed to these students.

"They have to do very well in school, their attendance has to be good and they have to help fundraise, so every student on the trip deserved to be there."

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