Career Day @ SHSS

MANY MIGHT THINK CAREER DAY AT A HIGH SCHOOL IS A PRETTY ROUTINE THING THAT GOES ON EVERY YEAR, BUT IT IS A SIGNIFICANT OCCASION FOR YOUTH IN THE ISR. The six regions have one career day for high school students and it takes place at SHSS in Inuvik. Selected students from the other schools get transported in to attend. All the large companies and government departments, as well as colleges that serve the North are there: they have areas in the school where groups of students can see at least the faces of people who represent these companies or institutes, and ask questions or communicate to see if itʼs a good fit for their career goals. Some even had a first hand trial at the work. Northwind gave students the opportunity to repair a skidoo and learn about mechanics, while the Inuvik hospital had students “playing doctor”, using the stethoscope to hear each otherʼs heart beat, and checking their blood sugar levels.

Bonnie Koe, a student from Aklavik said, “Iʼm learning a lot. This will help me find out what I would be interested in the future. I picked out a few that I thought would be interesting. Iʼve been to family counseling, the fire department and northwestel.”

The Inuvialuit Communications Society had students running the camera, recording audio and doing some TV show hosting for Suaangan and Tamapta! Sherra Arey was excited, “I learnt how to use the camera. I was nervous just now, but I will be less so in the future because Iʼve done it once.”

Donny Amos enjoyed the experience too. “Being in front of the camera, I felt like I owned the place, haha. Working there sounds like fun. Audio monitoring and the camera are pretty cool.”

Robin Doucette tried her hand at welding with NTCL. She was the only girl in the class but did pretty well! Arlin Ruben said, “There were “boring” parts and interesting parts. There should be more flight programs!” Chelsea said, “The Canadian North one was my favourite. It inspired me to be a flight attendant so I can get good experiences and travel the world.”

We also learnt that Family Counselling is a great career for good listeners, many students identified themselves as “The person that everybody talks to when they are sad,” and realized that might mean they can be good counselors!

Career guides shared what satisfied them most about their jobs. The RCMP officer said, “When you believe that you really helped someone. Sometimes you do so much and you still get criticized, but when you help someone and you know that you really did make a difference, itʼs great.”

Don spoke of how he almost lost his identity and then decided to get help. “It took me a year of trying, counselors, therapy before I cleaned up,” he said “What if I had never done that? What if I would took that chair and tried to hang myself? The police would have found somebody else to chase, drug dealers would have found somebody else to sell their drugs to, my girlfriend will find a new boyfriend, my friends would have found new friends, life would have moved on, the only person that would have missed me would be my mum. No APTN, no traveling, no meeting people, none of that. My last twenty years of life has been good for me.”

He said it’s hard for youth to say “No” to peer pressure, but the pressure to be cool eventually just creates sadness. “You might think we are dinosaurs, we are old, we don’t know nothing, but we do. There might be some people right now who might be sleeping at home, but they should be right here. All they do is eat, sleep and poop. That’s what a baby does, they eat sleep poop and people just love them. You got to get yourself in the game. I don’t care how tough this assignment is, I will go after it. I don’t care if I am shy, I am going to do this. This career day is a chance to meet other people. Don’t just hang around in a group. Go check out the things you want to. Don’t hold each other back. Push your own turbo button.”

He closed his speech hoping that “I said something that will inspire you and make you take a look at what you are doing now. This is a long journey, you are still at the beginning stage. You got to make choices. It’s a lot easier to get a 15 year old to quit drinking, to not do drugs, to stay in school than a 25 year old. So many people are trying to get back to school because they dropped out early. It’s hard to get back into the game. The best thing I can say to you as your friend, as your uncle Don is the longer you stay in school, the more chance of success you will have.”

“The work is tough, but these people (teachers, career guides) are here to give you the tools and guides to be a healthy functional adult. There are enough single mums, people in jail, suicides; we need healthy mature adults. Use these resources that are standing around.”

“It was really good. What he said is true,” said Caitlin klengenberg, who seemed deep in thought after the speech. “I was once in that sort of thing, but I am out of it now. I’m trying really hard in school now.” Karis Gruben too, was encouraged, “What he said about SAD meant something to me. I will learn to say no.”