Scholarships help fuel success
Single mom says awards allowed her to continue school and care for son
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 6, 2014
KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET/IQALUIT
It's tough enough being a student, let alone having to pay the high cost of living while studying in Iqaluit.
Qulliq Energy Corporation Minister Paul Okalik presents education student Nadia Sammurtok with the Laura Ulluriaq Gauthier Scholarship. Sammurtok credits scholarships with getting her through school as a single mother. - photo courtesy of Qulliq Energy Corporation |
Add in single parenthood, and it's easy to understand why Nadia Sammurtok of Rankin Inlet is thankful for the help of several scholarships she has received.
"It means a lot to me," said Sammurtok, who recently won Qulliq Energy Corporation's Laura Ulluriaq Gauthier Scholarship. "I have a child to raise, and it has its challenges. To me, it's a blessing because I feel like this year I don't have to worry about the financial challenges that come with it, along with staying on top of my homework. It helped to lighten the load, for sure."
The Nunavut Teacher Education Program student, now interning at Iqaluit's Nakasuk School in her fourth year of the program, received the Nunasi scholarship in her first and second years, and the IODE Shirley Cheshire award. Each of these awards is worth $2,500, but the QEC scholarship is worth $5,000.
"I've been lucky in that every year I made sure I put in applications for scholarships," she said. "The ones that I've been chosen for have really helped me out. I really encourage students and future students to make sure they get their applications in."
Her situation has highlighted her need for funds to finish the program.
"I've been a student for a while, most of my son's life," she said. "It was very tough at times. For me as a parent, as a full-time student raising a child, there were times it got really tough.
"When my son was younger, I was paying for child care at the same time as I had to pay for rent and everything else on a student budget. I wanted to ensure that my son is fed and clothed and taken care of for a year."
Now teaching at Nakasuk, she gets to see her son, who is in Grade 2, each day at school.
"It's nice to see him in the school and the way he interacts in the school environment, seeing him with his friends and classmates. I really feel I am setting an example for him as well as others. I hope I am setting an example for other single mothers, too."
Considering Nunavut's high drop-out rates and low post-secondary numbers, Sammurtok is doing a good job of showing that it can be done.
"As long as we are taught the skills we need to function in today's world, we'll make it," she said.
"Reading, writing, math, and so on. I feel we need our children to have the foundation in order to survive in whatever realm we choose. People learn in different ways. Some learn by observing, some by hands-on activities.
"I don't see what happens in other classrooms, but I personally feel using strategies and encouraging them to keep going is what is key to making sure they keep going."
She knows how to motivate, and is motivated herself. A bachelor's degree is simply not enough, she says.
"I'm learning so much. I enjoy teaching, so I hope to continue if positions open. I do plan in the future to further my education and get my master's," she said.
Before moving to Iqaluit for school, Sammurtok was active in Rankin Inlet where she helped establish a youth group and served on the National Inuit Youth Council and the Kivalliq Embrace Life Council.
"Nadia is a talented, young leader, much like Ms. Gauthier, and we are excited to see the great things she will accomplish," Paul Okalik, the minister responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation, stated in a news release.
Laura Ulluriaq Gauthier, a former assistant deputy minister for the Department of the Executive, was instrumental in the formation of the Nunavut Power Corporation, which became the Qulliq Energy Corporation in 2001. Gauthier died suddenly in 2000.
