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IQALUIT
Students in Arctic College's Environmental Technology Program have had their share of amazing, harrowing and downright nasty learning experiences over the past quarter-century.

Arctic College instructor Justin Buller leads a dissection of an Arctic fox at the Environmental Technology Program's 25th anniversary open house Nov. 30. - Peter Worden/NNSL photo

From learning to change a spark plug with just a rock and Swiss Army knife to learning which caribou tracks to follow, and from taking soil samples in a sewage lagoon to weighing down the back of an aircraft to get its nose up on a short runway, the program has carved out a colourful history since its startup.

The program marks 25 years this semester. At an open house and alumni dinner Nov. 30, students and instructors, past and present, rose to recall memories of the program.

"Money, there was no money," said Bruce Rigby, one of the first program co-ordinators, recounting how students had no snowmobiles, so one of the ETP's first courses was 'small engines' and the first field-trip was to the local dump to salvage parts. "We had no equipment. The facility today, we would have just died for something like that."

Today, the students who make their way through its doors are the Arctic's conservation officers, park wardens, fisheries and oceans personnel, consultants, scientists, RCMP and instructors of tomorrow.

Joe Tigullaraq, a decades-long wildlife officer and hunter, was one of the first students in the ETP program back in 1987. Tigullaraq is now with Baffinland. Iron Mines Corp. and said one of the truest measures of competence is knowing how to improvise, like his first ETP assignment to scour the Iqaluit dump for snowmobile parts.

"It's the same idea (on the land). A hunter who can improvise will always get home safely," he said.

Yes, a lot has changed in the past 25 years: Nunavut wasn't yet a territory; Iqaluit was Frobisher Bay; houses were still on honey-bag service -- a term with which many students today aren't even familiar. Indeed, many of the students today weren't yet born when ETP first began. High school had only recently become available in the town of about 2,000 when Bruce Rigby, Wayne Merry and Mary Tapsell began the ETP. It was modified from similar programs in the Western Arctic -- albeit less relevant to Eastern Arctic -- which often focused on forestry and forest firefighting.

The anniversary evening heard anecdotal stories from students and instructors. One alumnus whose graduand letterman jacket read: "Environmental Technology,' explained, "We were mental for the environment." One day, from the back of the class, a student called out a completely made-up flower during a lesson on Arctic flora and fauna.

"We didn't just study the environment. We invented it," the former student announced proudly.

Pranks abounded in the program, from solid rock walls constructed quietly outside someone's tent door to guides taking students to their actual camp location after spending four hours building an igloo. Students joke now about moments that were no joke then. Stories about a mother polar bear and her cubs pawing around camp at 4 a.m. made former Arctic College dean Bert Rose, who oversaw the program when it began in 1987, wonder if the program was too risky to undertake.

"They came very close to never doing another field camp again," he joked.

For all the jokes, pranks and life-or-death instances over its first quarter-century, what made the most impact on students in ETP were the career opportunities. Students spoke emphatically about turning their lives around by enrolling in the program. One female alumnus said when she started the ETP, there were three career choices for women -- become teacher, nurse or housewife. This year, for the first time ever, ETP had more women than men enrolled.

Current student Candice Sudlovenick, who grew up in Iqaluit, said she has seen ice going away earlier and earlier in the year.

"You hear lots about global warming, and I feel like I can make a difference," said Sudlovenick. "I will probably get a degree in paleontology or archaeology -- something in the field. I had a desk job and I found it boring."

Bruce Rigby said students are pretty much guaranteed a job after the two-year program.

"So many things are tied to environmental stewardship -- virtually everything you hear about," he said. "You need good research and good analysis. As we get more technologically advanced in the next 25 years, good interpreters will be critical. Back in the '50s and '60s, we'd say, 'There's a good place for a road; build it.' Today, interpretation and decision-making is more important and it's just going to increase as development picks up."

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