Children sing for elders
Elder's abuse awareness day marked with events
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 22, 2017
INUVIK
Community members, many clad in purple, gathered at Jim Koe Park last week to honour World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on Thursday, June 15.
Students from East Three Elementary School play their song for viewers at the elder's abuse awareness day in Jim Koe Park Thursday, June 15. Visible from left to right are Andy Albert, John Voudrach, Jade Goose, Noah Crocker, Joseph Moore, Adrianna Hendrick, Kyra Buckle, Kaelyn Allen, Amber Lennie-Ipana, Angelina Jerome, Paige Steen-Cockney, Jesabell Day, Kieran McCarthy and teacher Abe Drennan. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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The event featured entertainment by performers such as Louie Goose, smoked tea, soup and bannock as well as games, such as harpoon throw, beanbag toss and blindfolded pudding feeding.
Grade 6 student Adrianna Hendrick attended with her class to perform a song about the importance of friendship.
"We just thought of happiness and how friends make us happy," she said.
Students in teacher Abe Drennan's class wrote the song, titled Friends Are There For You, and performed it in the school's talent show earlier in the month.
"I wanted to write a song with the students," said Drennan. "They were into it, so we basically came up with some ideas of things that were important to them, and friends were the most important thing."
The tune for the song was based off his classroom clean-up song, so the sound was already familiar to students. Beyond friendship, the theme was also about moving on to new beginnings.
"It's Grade 6, so they're moving on to something new, they're graduating this year," said Drennan. "That's a big deal for them."
After the elder's event, the students were off to the Igloo Church, where they would record the song with Drennan and Leanne Goose. They were also going to sing a portion of Goose's song "War Cry."
Drennan said he will either put the children's song on his upcoming album The Igloo Sessions or release it on the internet in some way.
The Grade 6 class weren't the only young performers at the event.
A delegation of children from the Children First Centre also took to the microphone at one point, though the youths seemed more enamoured with the power of their vocal projection than remembering any specific lyrics.
