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Living like Sinatra Grade 12 students from Baker Lake heading to Los Angeles in July
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, June 25, 2013
QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
Krystal Kalluk, left, and Kiligvak Tookoome of Baker Lake announce the bingo numbers on the evening of June 20 as part of an effort to raise funds for their Grade 12 trip to Los Angeles in July. The 13 students from Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School have raised $60,000 so far. - photo courtesy of Hilu Tagoona
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High school students from Baker Lake will be living like stars next month in Los Angeles where they'll be staying in the former home of Frank Sinatra.
Grade 12 students from Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School settled on the destination after realizing they had fundraised enough money to travel somewhere outside of Canada, according to Hilu Tagoona, one of two chaperones accompanying teens.
"They started to brainstorm and a whole bunch of different places came up. The favourites seem to be New York, Florida and L.A. From there we had them all research the different things and figure out why they wanted to go there," said Tagoona, adding they settled on L.A. after a vote.
The 13 teenagers are set to arrive in the city on July 21 and will spend five days in the City of Angels followed by two days in Winnipeg.
In L.A., the group will be staying in a 6,000-square-foot mansion with a pool, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a recreation room, a sauna and a hilltop view.
"They're really excited about it," said Tagoona, explaining that they found the place on TripAdvisor. "It used to be the home of Frank Sinatra, Roger Miller and Clint Walker back in the day."
Student Eugene Sevoga said he was initially upset with the decision to go to L.A. because he wanted to visit Miami to get inked by a professional tattoo artist he had seen on TV.
He's excited now though because he's found another famous tattoo artist in L.A., Kat Von D, who he hopes will have time to see him.
"I want to get a tattoo of my late mother with her date of birth and all that," Sevoga said. "Also, I wanted to go see Wheel of Fortune while we're down there as well as the Price is Right."
The students haven't yet planned their trip itinerary but are looking at visiting attractions such as Universal Studios, Disneyland, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Santa Monica Pier. One teen is also looking into getting tickets to The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
"If we do that I'll be happy because we'll be the first Baker Lake people from Nunavut to ever do a grand trip out of the country and to go on that TV show," said Sevoga. "I'm looking forward to that as well."
The teens have been fundraising since the beginning of the school year to make this trip possible. They have held flea markets, bingos, lunches and a mini-carnival. They've also wrapped gifts at the Northern Store over Christmas, ran the canteen at the community arena and catered feasts.
With four fundraisers left to go, Tagoona said the teens have managed to raise about $60,000 with help from First Air, Arctic Fuel and the Northern store.
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