The qajaqing program at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet remains strong and vibrant more than 20 years after its launch at the school.
Teacher Glen Brocklebank, who started the qajaqing program at Victor Sammurtok School in 2004, said he had done a lot of qajaqing while attending university and was surprised when he moved to the birthplace of the qajaq (Chesterfield Inlet) and there were no qajaqs to be found.
SA国际影视传媒�There were no qajaqs in town, but there were artifacts on the land,SA国际影视传媒� said Brocklebank.
SA国际影视传媒�So I knew there was a rich qajaq culture here in Chester but it seemed to have faded from memory. So, we decided we should build some and bring them back.SA国际影视传媒�
Brocklebank said the program caught on rather quickly once he got it up and running.
He said he and his wife, Ana, built one during a teacher's professional development week and hung it in the back of his classroom.
SA国际影视传媒�When the students came back after professional development week, they asked when they got to build one," he said.
Brocklebank said there are aspects of the program he may be able to adapt to the south if and when he were to leave Chester, but the most important aspect to him is keeping it vibrant in Chester.
He said right now, the program probably remains the most popular in the school.
SA国际影视传媒�The kids still all seem to want to do it and that's quite gratifying to me. We haven't built any new ones recently. We've only been paddling them lately, so we have a generation who haven't built them or covered them.
SA国际影视传媒�So, hopefully, in the near future, we'll be able to get back to building them.
SA国际影视传媒�We have 32 right now which is, pretty much, an optimum number for the number of young people we've had in the program.SA国际影视传媒�
Brocklebank said he sees the entire program as being applicable to the lives of the young students.
He said that's especially true when it comes to the amount of water safety the students take from the program.
SA国际影视传媒�We start off with a swimming test, so we try to get young people comfortable in the water first. And then we flip them over.
SA国际影视传媒�So, we get them understanding that the dry suits will keep them dry, and, for the most part, warm, and that the life jacket will keep them buoyant.
SA国际影视传媒�And then we make them swim about 150 metres to get across a body of water that's over their head. Then we put them in a qajaq and immediately capsize them."
SA国际影视传媒�So, right away, they understand how to get out of a qajaq if it does capsize. Often times, at the end of the day, rather than kids going on shore or getting out on their own, they'll just flip over on their own and it all, kind of, becomes fun.SA国际影视传媒�
Brocklebank said there's always ways of tweaking small things in the program to make it even better.
He said different group dynamics warrant different types of things, so they have a really strong foundation to the program.
SA国际影视传媒�Right now, it's just a case of making minor adjustments as we go. There's a lot of weather dependency involved, too.
SA国际影视传媒�There's certain weather conditions that are just not safe no matter what skill level you're talking. So it's more being aware of what weather conditions are happening at any given time.SA国际影视传媒�
