DELINE/FORT FRANKLIN
Hannah Taneton is no stranger to a busy schedule. The Grade 11 student at Ehtseo Ayha School in Deline says planning is a big part of making sure she stays on top of her agenda.
Grade 11 student Hannah Taneton will travel to Africa this summer as part of the Northern Youth Abroad program. - photo courtesy of Hannah Taneton
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“I’m organized,” she said.
Taneton attends school and has a part-time job at the Deline youth centre.
“I watch the kids and also the canteen is open so I have to run into the canteen if someone wants to get stuff,” she said. “Sometimes we put on movies for them and set up games.”
She also helps coach the girls 14-and-under soccer team, assists with fundraising and helps chaperone the team when the team travels to Yellowknife for Super Soccer.
Volunteering her time is something Taneton believes is important. She spends hours after school and on weekends helping out with community events, such as running the community hall canteen during bingo games.
Taneton’s work doesn’t solely take place in her community. She was chosen to be a Northwest Territories Youth Ambassador earlier this year and travelled to Ottawa where she helped with Spectacular NWT Days during Winterlude, a winter festival. Her brother, Garred, was also chosen as a youth ambassador.
Taneton said she demonstrated traditional games and greeted prestigious visitors.
“We were welcoming the chiefs and (members of Parliament) and important people,” she said.
She is now gearing up for another journey, but this time her destination is much further than Ottawa. Taneton begins her second phase of the Northern Youth Abroad program this summer and will travel to Botswana, Africa.
“We’re going to volunteer in the community and help out,” she said.
Last year, Taneton travelled to Surrey, B.C., to live with a host family during the first phase of the program.
She said volunteering and participating in programs are great ways to develop new talents and learn about the world.
“It’s good, volunteering,” she said. “You’ll like it more the more you do it. You’ll gain a lot of skills and you’ll also learn different things.”
Taneton said she knows the work she is doing now will benefit her in the future. She said she would like to attend post-secondary school and is considering a few colleges and universities, such as Algonquin College in Ottawa and Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton.
Taneton said no matter what her future holds, she is laying the framework to ensure she has options.
“I think with all these programs I’m doing, I’m getting more interested in other jobs and figuring out what would be a good opportunity for me,” she said. “I have a few ideas. I want to do maybe daycare, (be) a preschool teacher or a nurse and maybe something to do with sports.”
