My name is Pearlie Mae Howard and I am originally from from Rankin Inlet, NU. I am currently living in Cambridge Bay, NU. I graduated high school in 2017, and afterwards I jumped from job to job until I went back to Rankin in December of last year.
I did my Canadian phase last summer and had the opportunity to travel to Chilliwack, BC. During my 4 weeks there I volunteered at a Summer Day Camp, which is always fun for me because I enjoy working with youth and young adults. This year I was selected for the NYA Next, where I stay in Ottawa for the summer, and room with 16 other participants at the Algonquin College Residence. During our time here we present our Territories to a few groups here in Ottawa and also are presented to by aboriginal groups and other organizations like “Let’s Talk Science.” We also get the chance to build things in a pre trades construction class.
The first couple of days we settled into residence and after we were all unpacked and settled, we got the chance to check out a nice beach across town. The next day we toured the Parliament building and got to learn some interesting facts about the old building. That same day we went to a mall, which was obviously fun for me because i very much enjoy shopping. During our first week here we registered for a construction class and did a bit of study hall.
After that we had a bit of free time to relax. The next few days after that we spent being introduced to our construction class. We worked on building a picture frame and by the end of the week we finished them off and started on our dog houses. By the looks of it so far it’s going to be pretty huge! We also had the chance to visit another campsite with Southern Aboriginal youth and elders who were willing to show us their traditional knowledge, songs, and even dances. NYA Next got to work on presentations of our Territories to present to Jaku Kombit, a summer day camp with children who didn’t know anything about the people up north. It was great that we had the opportunity to show them our language, culture, even some games and songs.
NYA Next is a great program that allows youth to travel down south to showcase our traditional knowledge and language and also meet different aboriginal people from the south. To the youth who are reading my blog now, I hope you choose to apply for this amazing program you will get a lot from being here and also it will allow you to give back to the people who know little to nothing about our Northern territory.
