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In a class all by himself Emily Ridlington Northern News Services Published Monday, June 27, 2011
With such a tight-knit community and everyone knowing everyone, a big community-wide celebration was held for the school's lone high school graduate for 2011: Daniel Flaherty. "I feel good, I feel excited about life now," said the 18-year-old. Born in Iqaluit, Flaherty said he returned to Grise Fiord, where he grew up. The young man has four brothers and two sisters and said he falls somewhere in the middle. In Grade 7, he said he went to Iqaluit for school and was not too fond of his school experience in the capital city. "It was really different, many more students, and a lot of them I didn't know and they would pick on me," he said. At Ummimak, one might think being the only student in your grade would be lonely but this was not the case for Flaherty. He said he took his classes with the Grade 10 and 11 students. Out of all the subjects he has studied, he said his preference is social studies because he gets to learn about the world and history. Also a big part of why he prefers social studies, he said, is because of the positive influence his teacher, Cara Cormier has had on him. Cormier describes Flaherty as being "awesome." "He is a very kind, very smart, considerate young man," she said. In addition to doing well at school, Flaherty held down a job at the community gym handing out equipment and working as the cashier. In his spare time he enjoys going out on his snowmobile, playing floor hockey, hunting, camping and hanging out with his friends. Looking back at his time at Ummimak, Flaherty said he most enjoyed going out on land trips with elders. As for his future plans, he said he would like to attend Arctic College to take mechanics or carpentry. There is also the option for him to go to Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottawa. His language arts exams have been written and there was a feast held in his honour. Flaherty said his friends want to be done school too but he has sound advice for them. "They're jealous; they just want to finish. But I tell them 'You've got to wait.'"
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