 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
A little East Coast flavour arrives Guidance counsellor thrilled with discovery of rich culture
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 3, 2013
INUVIK
East Three Secondary School has a little East Coast flavour on tap this year.
Darlene Jean: Is the new guidance counsellor at East Three Secondary School. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
|
Darlene Jean is the new guidance counsellor at the school. She calls the position, which she started earlier this month, her "dream job."
"I did a little research on the opportunity and thought this could be my dream job," she said eagerly. "So I applied and got the position."
Jean readily confessed she's no expert on the North, although she has an indirect family connection.
"I hadn't heard of Inuvik to be honest," she admitted. "Back east, we predominantly think of Yellowknife when we hear about the NWT.
"So I did look it up, and read about the culture and it sounded really interesting to me. I'm a history major to start with, and I thought, 'Wow, what an opportunity.'"
"I'm most interested in the different cultures," Jean continued. "Since I've arrived, I've found it an extremely rich culture here. There's a lot of cultural events, which is something I haven't experienced before."
She's from the Halifax area and the idea of heading to Inuvik was a little daunting, if exciting.
"It's really the top of Canada, but it's intriguing too, wondering what it has to offer. And I have a sense of adventure."
Her husband Byron arrived 10 days after Jean started her position, and also wondered what he was getting into. He had just wrapped up running his own business after Jean received the job offer at East Three, and promised he'd "give it a year," recognizing what the opportunity meant to her.
When Jean arrived, the weather was sunny and gorgeous. By the time Byron arrived, it had taken a turn for the worse.
"He said if there had been a plane going back out the day he came in he might have left," she said with a laugh, remembering the rain-drenched day.
She wasn't able to meet him at the airport due to work commitments, exacerbating the situation.
That first impression on his part changed after three days when he found a demand for his drywall skills and began meeting people, Jean said.
The couple is eagerly awaiting some of the new experiences in store for them, especially this winter.
"We're looking forward to driving the ice road, going to Tuk and seeing a pingo for the first time in our lives," she said. "And I want to see the ice house in Tuk."
She's already had a chance to catch a glimpse of the aurora borealis from their apartment balcony and was deeply impressed.
"I want to see things like that in person," Jean said.
Jean was primarily a teacher for high-needs students over much of her career. It's only in the last few years, after earning a master's degree, that she delved into guidance counselling.
"I thought I'd really like to be a guidance counsellor," she said. "This role up here is a little different, it's more intense counselling, which is right up my alley.
"I just feel like this is meant for me."
| 
