CHESTERFIELD INLET
Folks in Chesterfield Inlet aren't about to allow a little superstition get in the way of a delicious breakfast.

Teacher Catharine Mourot finds it a little strange the 13th annual Victor Sammurtok School Valentine's Day pancake breakfast falls on Friday the 13th as she serves up yummy plates to, from right to left, Camile Simik, Louis Amauyak, Pujuut Putulik, Nanaouq Kreelak and Lilian Putulik in Chesterfield Inlet this past week. - photo courtesy of Glen Brocklebank

About 150 people attended Victor Sammurtok School's (VSS) annual Valentine's Day pancake breakfast on Friday the 13th this past week.

The event marked the 13th time VSS has hosted its pancake breakfast.

Teacher Glen Brocklebank said more than 20 tables were used for the gathering, with four chairs at each table.

He said it was kind of cool to have the 13th annual breakfast on Friday the 13th.

"Yeah, baby, that's all I can say about it," joked Brocklebank.

"We had the Grade 9 and Grade 10 students cook four cases of sausage, while the Grade 7 and Grade 8 classes, along with cultural instructor Marjorie Autut, cooked a case of bacon.

"We had five staff members cooking pancakes in the morning, while the rest of the staff was on set-up, supervision, clean-up and serving patrol.

"After breakfast the elementary and senior students went into two different classrooms to watch movies."

Grade 7-8 teacher Amanda Mulder, who was attending her first Valentine's Day breakfast at VSS, said it's a great way to get the school and community together.

She said it was great to see everyone sitting together in the gym and having such a good time.

"I got to serve and cook and it was really fun to be a part of everything," said Mulder.

"We have a wonderful staff that pulls together to do a great job on any event, especially this one, and things went really smoothly at the breakfast.

"Everyone had their own position, whether it was cooking, cleaning, monitoring the students or cleaning-up afterwards."

Mulder said she has integrated into the community well, so far.

But, she said, having the pancake breakfast in February gave her another chance to interact with the community as a whole.

"It was an opportunity to keep in contact with student parents and see them come out to support the school and their child.

"It was just a really great experience."

Grade 9 student Deanna Sammurtok helped set up the table and chairs for the breakfast.

She said the Valentine's Day pancake breakfast is a great way to bring the community together with VSS students and staff members.

"The mood is really happy during the breakfast and everybody's always having such a great time," said Sammurtok. "I really like to see our community happy and having everyone enjoy a big get-together like our pancake breakfast.

"The breakfast always tastes great and there's always enough food so everyone leaves with a full stomach."

Student support teacher Cindy Kim, also attending her first VSS pancake breakfast, said she was impressed with how it went.

Kim said she absolutely loved every moment of the gathering.

She said she loves meeting the students at the school, so adding their siblings who don't attend VSS, parents and grandparents to the mix made things extra special for her.

"Everyone was really excited and glad to be here and the kids were really pumped to get their pancake breakfast," said Kim.

"The parents and grandparents were really happy, and that all made for an overall very good, fun and happy mood at the school.

"The gym was full of the smells of the breakfast foods and there were good conversations going on.

"So, even though it's a small community, it was nice to see everyone eat and congregate together as a big group because that rarely happens."