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REPULSE BAY
Grade 8 students at Tusarvik School in Repulse Bay are calling out to Nunavummiut for help in winning a national contest.

Grade 8 students Michael Olateeta, back, Alvin Kopak and Veronica Uttak stand by their iglu with elders Mary Tuktudjuk and David Tuktudjuk, from left, and Elijah Angutautok, front, while working on their Ukkusiksalik National Park video in Repulse Bay this past month. To view the student's video and vote, visit www.myparkspass.ca/video-gallery. - photo courtesy of Irene Lokhorst

The class made an excellent video on Ukkusiksalik National Park called A Window Into Ukkusiksalik.

The video has been entered into a national online contest sponsored by Parks Canada.

The winning class will receive a trip to Banff National Park.

Tusarvik teacher Jacob Roberts said between 80 to 100 Grade 8 classes across Canada have entered.

He said the 10 videos which receive the most online votes will be forwarded to Parks Canada to be judged and the winning entry announced.

"A vote is allowed to be cast from a computer once a day," said Roberts.

"We're in tough with many of the southern classes having larger populations, so we need every vote we can get.

"They extended the date to vote to Feb. 24 because the site received more that 50,000 hits the first few days and crashed from the traffic."

Roberts said every Grade 8 student had a role in creating the video.

He said elders Mary and David Tuktudjuk are experts on the park, and were brought in to help the class with the project.

"Mary and David were, kind of, the Inuit voice with Parks Canada in creating Ukkusiksalik, as far as some of the boundaries, what the park would be about and those types of things.

"They've been a part of the park committee for a long time, so we brought them into the classroom to conduct a few interviews with them.

"We used their expertise, along with our cultural teacher and our school community counsellor.

"We went out to an area around town with a similar landscape to the park, and some of the students built the iglu set while others filmed the process."

Roberts said the video, including editing, narration and the addition of music, took about five days to complete and was uploaded on Monday, Jan. 30.

He said the process was an amazing experience for everyone involved.

"I had four Grade 8 students who really picked up the technology.

"I showed them a few tricks, pointed to their computer and they took it from there. They were amazing to watch.

"We're the only school in Nunavut to enter the contest and, with only about 1,000 people in Repulse, we'd really appreciate all the support for the video we can get from across the territory."

To view the student's video and vote, visit www.myparkspass.ca/video-gallery.

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