A handful of students in Taloyoak, Nunavut, say they’re looking forward to going to the community’s new high school – which is under construction and on track to welcome kids in the fall. 

Haley Eetoolook is in Grade 11 and is expected to be part of the first class that graduates from the new $86.8-million Pangniq High School. Though the 16-year-old likes the existing Netsilik School, which currently serves students from kindergarten to Grade 12, she expects to have more fun at the new space. 

“There’s going to be so much more new resources there,” she said. 

Ivan Aqqaq, in Grade 10, is most looking forward to the new gym. Its lofty ceilings will make it a better venue for Aqqaq to play badminton and basketball. 

“I don’t really like the old gym … the floors and the walls and just the atmosphere of it,” he explained. “I just can’t wait to go try something different.” 

Pilitak Enterprise Limited started building the 3,600-square-metre building in the summer of 2023, according to Nunavut’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. The design was done by Accutech Engineering. 

The territory said construction is “progressing appropriately” and Pangniq High School is expected to be complete in early July, in time for students in grades 7-12 to start attending class there in the fall. 

The school will have capacity for 198 students, relieving some of the pressure on the existing and overburdened Netsilik School which was built in 1978. The Department of Education says 387 students are enrolled at Netsilik – 76 more than it was built for. 

School designed with Taloyoak in mind ‘means a lot’

Taloyoak Mayor Lenny Panigayak said having two school buildings in the community will be better for students who he says sometimes get distracted by the “chaos” of there being too many students at Netsilik. 

“For other students to concentrate, it can be hard in there,” he said. “With the new school and the older students going into the high school, it’s going to be more room for everybody and then they’ll be more concentrated.” 

Panigayak said his community has grown a lot since Netsilik was built. Back in the 70s, he said, the population was roughly 600 to 800 people. Now, it’s grown to nearly 1,200 people. 

The strain of that growth isn’t just felt in the school. Panigayak said homes are overcrowdedin them – eight people live in his own two-bedroom, for example. It means services like water delivery need to happen quickly to keep up with demand. 

Panigayak said architects who designed the new school asked Taloyoak residents for input. He’s pleased it’ll have a skin room, where students can process caribou, seals and other animals from school hunts in an easy-to-clean area. 

“They even have a daycare in the school cause they understand that the students, young students, they do need a place to bring their children to attend school. And to have it in the same building, it’s gunna help out a lot,” he said.

“It means a lot to us to have a school that will work for Inuit, for the people of Taloyoak,” said Panigayak. 

‘We’re moving forward’

Eetoolook, the Grade 11 student, is expected to be part of the new high school’s first graduating class. She’s started to make plans for herself beyond graduation, and said she’ll be touring some colleges in the South later this year. 

“I’m just happy that we’re going to be graduating in a new school. That means we’re moving forward, we’re changing, we’re not just staying stuck here in this old school.”

Netsilik, however, will continue to serve students from kindergarten to Grade 6. CBC News has asked the education department whether there are plans to upgrade it, but did not hear back by publication time.