SANIKILUAQ
A Canada-wide drug prevention project has students at Paatsaali School high on creativity.
Grade 11 student Ashley Appaqaq holds up the poster she drew for the Canadian Champions anti-drug competition. Appaqaq is also helping make a video commercial that will give her school a chance at winning several signed hockey jerseys and iPods. - photo courtesy of Terry Dunford
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"They're pretty gung-ho on doing this. They're very positive," said media teacher Terry Dunford, who's overseeing a class of kids with camcorders for the multimedia component of the project. "You should see some of the beautiful artwork they've done."
Drug abuse can be touchy subject to approach for an age group where some students may have zero familiarity and others all too familiar.
Sixteen-year-old Paatsaali student Ashley Amie Appaqaq said she lost a friend because of drugs and that drugs are simply "not worth it."
"Use your money for other things you really want to have or want to do," she said. "It's not healthy to do drugs. You can't give 100 per cent to sports if you do drugs."
Dunford said there has been no shortage of ideas and collaboration.
"They're making the decisions," he said. "It has to be them and the ideas they come up with."
The project is part of an RCMP national competition called "Canadian Champions" for students in Grades 7 to 12 who create one-minute commercials on the harms of drug and alcohol abuse. Videos can be in English or French. Paatsaali – the only high school in Nunavut taking part in the project – will make one version in English and another in Inuktitut. The videos will be posted on the RCMP website with winning entries garnering some 30 jerseys signed by Sidney Crosby as well as some autographed Blue Jays jerseys and iPods up for grabs.
At Paatsaali, three classes have combined to work on the project: Dunford's media class, Margaret Lawerence's art class and Mary Kavik's Inuktitut class.
Last month, RCMP Cpl. Reg Campbell spent four Wednesdays speaking to students about the harms of getting into drug use.
"I showed the students the Canadian Champions website and there's some powerful comments from (sportscaster) Scott Oake three months after his son's overdose death,"said Campbell, explaining that he saw students really listen to words of wisdom about drug use from well known hockey personalities such as Don Cherry and Ron Maclean.
Since Campbell's visits, many of the students at Paatsaali now don arm bands and marking them as drug-free, and encourage each other to stay drug-free.
"It's wide-reaching," said Campbell. The deadline for the competition is at the end of April, but the video will likely loop on the TV in the school's foyer.
"I'm pretty excited about seeing the end project."
