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INUVIK
Towering teenagers and children barely reaching some waists ran around Sir Alexander Mackenzie School gym playing a game of freeze tag Thursday morning. Two very different age groups participated in one amusing gym class.

Kindergarten student Jade Inuaslurak gets a piggyback from Grade 10 student Rachel Watters at their joint gym class at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School on Thursday. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Dave Halpine, physical education teacher at Samuel Hearne Secondary School, has organized the integrated gym time for the last three years but says this year it is especially important. It is the last year the schools will be apart.

September 2012 will bring all the students together under one roof, albeit with elementary and senior high students in separate areas within its walls.

"It just opens up a lot of doors and maybe breaks down some barriers of older kids being maybe scary or unapproachable," said Halpine.

"I see an increase in positive sportsmanship as a result of this ... The reason to do this is just to take phys. ed. away from playing games and moving it toward leadership and that sort of thing. I like (the senior high students) teaching games to their peers."

He said he's observed the younger kids really gravitate toward the older students, seeing them as role models and more approachable leaders.

"The idea is also to put into some of the high school kids' minds that, 'Maybe I'm a good teacher, maybe I've got a good presence.'"

He foresees this program continuing into the new school. Currently, it takes place four times a year; one time per term with a different class of senior high students. The older students play games and integrate with all levels of the elementary school depending on the day. Thursday was the Grade 10 girls' last day – a group which had four days with the elementary school gym classes instead of the two scheduled for the Grade 10 boys last term.

"I did this with the Grade 10 boys last term and they were screaming for more. So we lengthened the number of classes this term," said Halpine.

Rachel Watters, 15, scampered across the gym floor Thursday with kindergarten student Jade Inuaslurak, laughing as she hitched a piggyback ride.

Watters said the senior high students know many of the younger students already, either through being a relative or being involved in extracurricular activities. Watters is a figure skater and knows some of the younger kids through the club.

"You get to know the kids and they get to know you and there are hugs every time you come in," she said.

"They have somebody to look up to, we play with them so they know not to be afraid of us," she said.

Katelynn Crocker, a Grade 5 student at SAMS, said having the classes with the older visitors is a good way to practise becoming closer neighbours next year. She said a major difference she notices when the senior high students come to visit is the number of people running around the gym.

"There's a lot more people," she said.

"My favourite part is playing all the games they teach us."

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