Early October (2017)

Arctic Bay. October 9, 2017.

Round table next to woodpile.

I drove out to the airport on Thanksgiving Monday, October 9, to check out the woodpile the cadets collected in September.  There was enough snow the ground for me to use my skidoo.  I drove alongside the road, carefully avoiding the many small rocks sprinkled in the middle.  Despite the arrival of snow, it would still be several more weeks before the water in the bay would freeze.

            

Woodpile.

St. Georges Cliffs.

I turned off the main road and drove across a field, around the airport’s perimeter fence.  The snow was fluffy and deep, but not a problem for my skidoo.  I reached the woodpile where the cadets & I did the beach cleanup just last month.  The pile was buried in snow.  I would need to recruit several senior cadets with shovels to help me clear the snow off the pile.  Only then would it be easier to have the annual October bonfire.  I took several pictures of Arctic Bay & the cliffs before returning to my residence.

            

Grade 3 winners.

Inuujaq School held its first Attendance Awards Assembly of the 2017-18 school year on Thursday, October 12.  Everyone gathered in the gym to see the students who achieved perfect attendance for the month of September.  The recipients would receive a certificate and a backpack full of school supplies.  I was the official photographer.

            

Grade 6 winners.

Custom made fidget spinners.

I was called down to the Grade 9 classroom on Friday, October 13, to be the adjudicator of their fidget spinner contest and select the top 3 spinners.  The challenge was to create their own spinners.  Fidget spinners are the latest craze that’s sweeping the globe.  They reached their peak in the summer of 2017, but they’re still popular in Arctic Bay.  Most teachers find them annoying & distracting, but I’ve embraced them with open arms.  They remind me of POGs, (aka milk caps), the popular game that took over schoolyards in the mid-1990s, the same time when I was in elementary school.  I’ve already started my own fidget spinner collection and I think it’s going to grow substantially over the coming months.

            

Being thorough.

Third, Second, First.

I was presented with 10 custom made fidget spinners.  I gave my camera to a Grade 9 student so they could take pictures.  First, I congratulated the students for stepping up to the challenge and putting their creativity on display.  I carefully picked up each fidget spinner, examined the design, and did my best to spin it.  I pondered & thought after testing each spinner and narrowed them down to the three I liked the best.  I then arranged them in order of third, second, and first.  The top three winners would receive a prize of some kind.  I thanked the Grade 9 class for selecting me as their judge.

            

Hunter Tootoo, Nunavut’s independent MP, spoke to the high school students on October 13.  The last time he visited Inuujaq School was in April 2013 when he was visiting communities with the Mace of Nunavut.  In his presentation, he talked about his role as Nunavut’s MP to the House of Commons in Ottawa, what he does, and how he brings Inuit concerns to the federal level.  At the end of the presentation, several photographs were taken of him with the high school students.            

I did return to the bonfire site with two senior cadets later that evening.  We spent a good thirty minutes shovelling snow off the woodpile.  The bonfire would take place the following evening.