CHESTERFIELD INLET
The return of an extracurricular activity had some students turning a little green at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet earlier this month.

Sabrina Tanuyak grimaces as she tries to force down the rest of her meal during the Fear Factor Challenge at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet. - photo courtesy Glen Brocklebank

Grade 1 to 2 teacher Vicki Tunuyak used to hold a Fear Factor Challenge about seven years ago, when she taught grades seven and eight.

At that time, it was for grades 7 to 12 and held to celebrate student success at the end of the school year.

Tanuyak hadn't held the event since, but decided this would be a good time to bring it back, because she has a number of highly-motivated students among the 15 who comprise her two classes.

She said the event was a great success.

"Some of the kids in my class are still six, but most are seven or eight," said Tanuyak.

"When it comes to food, the worst fear of children is often vegetables, so that was one of the main courses in our Fear Factor Challenge.

"So, I guess you could say, it was Fear Factor with a healthy twist."

The vegetables did their job well when they showed up, as some of the kids quit even though they'd advanced to the second stunt.

Among the second-round challenges awaiting the kids were green-dyed tapioca pudding (frog eyes), broccoli sprouts (monster eyes) and mud pies with squirmy worms and black flies (chocolate pudding, gummy worms and raisins).

The approach played with the kids' minds a bit, laughed Tanuyak.

She said a vegetable drink (monster blood) was served to wash the concoctions down.

"All 15 students began the first stunt of slurping down their Jell-O, with the top eight advancing to the second round.

"But four dropped out as soon as they saw the menu.

"One boy who had advanced told me, with very watery eyes, his mom said he couldn't eat those, so he quit."

After the second round, the students were 'handcuffed' with rope and a padlock, and faced a tub of floating spaghetti, shrimp and wiggly eyeballs from art class.

There were four keys somewhere in the tub, and they had to find the right one to unlock their padlock.

Once unlocked, they had to go to another dish and bob for three shrimps hidden in a mixture of spaghetti and relish while being timed.

The students who braved it out until the end won prizes donated by the Pitsiulak Co-op and Northern store.

When the spaghetti finally parted, Sabrina Tanuyak took first, Breanne Mosbeck second and Felix Aggark third.

Tanuyak said the event was held in the classroom, but was open to anyone who wanted to check out the action for a few minutes.

She said the original plan of holding it in the gym was scrapped when she realized it made the kids uncomfortable.

"We had concerns raised by the students, just as we were supposed to start, because they were a bit frightened by the idea of doing it in a crowded gym.

"I had to acknowledge their fear of having too many people watching them, so we decided to have it in the classroom.

"It was a fun event and the kids enjoyed it.

"We'll see more kids participate in the Fear Factor Challenge next year."

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