IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
Talia Maksagak, acting youth outreach worker at Cambridge Bay's Wellness Centre, sends jolts of high-powered energy even over a phone line miles away.

Environment Minister Johnny Mike presents the recreation leader of the year award to Cambridge Bay's Talia Maksagak at the Recreation and Parks Association of Nunavut and Sport and Recreation Nunavut Awards dinner in Iqaluit Oct. 17. - Scott Wight Photography photo

The 21-year-old, who turns 22 in December, lives like she talks - fast, fast fast.

When she was asked to send an e-mail to Dawn Currie of the Recreation and Parks Association of Nunavut outlining the considerable number of activities she has been involved with in the community over the last year, Maksagak was under the impression the request had to do with her becoming a member of the association.

As such, she did attend the annual general meeting in Iqaluit in October, and promptly became a board member.

On award night, when it was time for a recreation leader to be honoured, Maksagak says they began to describe an unknown person, saving the name for the finale of the lengthy introduction.

"And I was like, 'This person sounds really cool.' Then they said this person had completed the community addictions training and advanced counsellor training. And I was like, 'Hey . I did those, too. That sounds really cool. I really need to meet this person now because I did not know anyone else did that.' Then they went on to say this person likes to do yoga, and this person likes to do elder-youth gatherings. And now I was like, 'Oh wait, that kind of sounds like me. I'm a little intimidated. Oh my gosh. This person is me'. And they said the recipient of the award is . Talia Maksagak.

"Surprised. I was so surprised. I did not expect it."

Maksagak is driven. No matter how much she does, her list of yet-to-be-done things seems just as long. "Sometimes I felt I couldn't do this anymore. Sometimes I didn't want to do it, but I'd do it anyway. Then I'd be happy that I did it. There was a lot of home stretch, I'm half-way there. Then there were times where, 'I'm not getting appreciated enough for all the hard work that I do.' And all this stuff that I say to myself. I think I put myself down too much. And lately I've been getting so much support from everybody that I'm like, 'You know what? I don't need to put myself down.'"

She adds: "With my year, as difficult as it was, it was a lot of fun. I learned so many things from kids.

"After I got the award, I literally told myself, 'OK. You have to stop putting yourself down.' Sometimes I don't realize how much I'm doing because I'm so busy. I don't take a step back and reflect on what I've done, what I've accomplished."

One of her passions is bringing elders and youth together. This she did over the summer with barbecues, where youth would serve the elders and eat afterwards.

"It's kind of like lessons of respect," she said

"The elders and youth gatherings, I want to keep up every Thursday. I want to start that come January. Christmas hampers are coming up soon, so it's going to be really busy. And there's also an elders Halloween party. And I'm travelling a lot in November and doing a lot of volunteer work in December. So, in January, I want to do elder-youth gatherings again."

Maksagak's respect and love for elders comes from her upbringing.

"My parents were young when they had me and I was adopted to my grandparents. So I was around older people all the time. I think that's why people say, 'That's why you're so wise.'

"People always have this thing, 'Old people are so wise.' Yes. Yes they are. That's because they've lived and experienced a lot. I experienced a lot of the way that they lived."

She adds: "I was not only raised by those grandparents, but by three sets of my grandparents. So I learned from three different styles. I was adopted to my mom's parents but my dad's parents separated before I was even born. I then had three sets of grandparents, I then had my dad's mom, my dad's dad and his step-mom - she's my grandmother not my step-grandmother - and my mom's parents. And having older siblings . It's indescribable. It was a remarkable experience."

Her vision for the elder youth gatherings is to have the elders tells their stories and in exchange the youth can teach the elders how to use technology, like how to navigate an iPad.

"So elders would have fun learning new things and the youth will have fun learning everything about the past. The youth aren't only listening and learning, but they're also teaching. I think it's just a great collaboration because I learn so much from kids that are younger than me."

Also on her to-do list for 2016 is re-introducing Girl Guides to the community,

Maksagak says there's been a lot of vandalism in the community lately.

"That's because a lot of people in the age group I want to target have nothing to do. That's one of the reasons I wanted to do it, mostly for Brownies and Guides. The older girls could then become role models. It's a great mentorship program. Girls learn how to be positive role models. I learned how to be a leader in this program - and that's the most important thing. The youth are the future leaders, right?"

Maksagak will celebrate more than her birthday in December - she will also celebrate the fifth anniversary of her common-law relationship.

"He has a four-year-old son. We take him on the weekends and he's been a part of our lives since he was one and a half."

And how does she manage it all? Maksagak answers quickly: "Support."

"I couldn't do it without my family's support. Support and definitely encouragement. And seeing the smiling kids' faces. Of course."

Watch for Maksagak on the national stage when she participates in the Miss Canada Globe pageant next summer. Yes - she's doing that, too.

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