Paulatuk school "a champion in creating growth opportunities, skills development and reduction of risk factors"
Trip an eye-opener, says youth residences head
Published Friday May 21st, 2010[excerpt]
The executive director of Moncton Youth Residences says a recent trip to a tiny village in the Northwest Territories was an eye-opener as he realized the challenges faced by young people Canada's north are similar to those faced by youth in New Brunswick.
"The risk factors facing young people in Angik School in Paulatuk, NWT are in many ways similar to the challenges some young New Brunswickers struggle with each day," says Mel Kennah. "School breakdowns, family violence and neglect, substance abuse, poverty, lack of successes, and too few meaningful relationships in their lives. "It was a privilege to convey information to the school that will assist its efforts to help young people succeed. Growing our youth for the future is a common goal shared by all Canadian communities."
Kennah recently travelled to Paulatuk, a tiny village of just under 300 people, to share information and advice from Moncton Youth Residences, which provides a variety of services to at-risk youth and their families. During the trip, Kennah visited the school to talk about fundraising and professional development. He also ate caribou meat and spaghetti sauce with ground muskox, saw the northern lights, experienced an Arctic blizzard and saw hunters with sled dogs in search of polar bears.
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Despite its remote location and limited resources, Kennah said the school is a champion in creating growth opportunities, skills development, and reduction of risk factors.
"In an effort to push out the front edges of its work Angik School principal, Jessica Schmidt, is inspiring new programs and generating fresh options for students through fund raising. New initiatives the school is endeavouring to establish include a library expansion, super soccer in Yellowknife, a literacy program, and a vocation skills development program."
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