Yukon Girls Hockey Jamboree
Yukon Female Hockey Jamboree March 31 – April 2, 2023, at the Art and Margaret Fry Recreation Centre in Dawson City, Yukon.
Youth
Preparing for the Apocalypse (and being misunderstood): the Guild Hall’s ‘WROL’
WROL (Without Rule of Law) at the Guild is an all youth cast with no adult characters in this play about 7 girls preparing for the apocalypse
Guitars, games, and healthy kids
Local organizations built teaching, modelling, and practicing life skills into youth programming. Life Skills like consent and boundaries.
What builds our youth?
January is Mentorship Month; a month to highlight the importance of engagement from our community to support and help develop our youth.
We need to see more positive engagement from the adults in our community, as well as an understanding of how we all impact our youth and, ultimately, their development.
Falling back into programming
As Yukon students head back to the classrooms, schools and teachers are not the only groups working out how to deal with the new normal imposed by COVID-19.
A lifetime of music
It may be an exaggeration to say that Kermit the Frog saved my life, but only slightly. It was 1971. I was 17. The Beatles sang “The Long and Winding Road” and I was deep in the swamp of solipsistic angst in the way that only teenagers can be. “Last night I was a girl …
Pinoys on Parliament
From February 21 to 23, young Filipino-Canadians will converge on Ottawa for a youth-led national leadership conference. Pinoys on Parliament will bring together 200 delegates from coast to coast to coast. “Pinoys on Parliament was born out of the idea that although Filipinos compose one of the largest minority groups in Canada, they are still …
Telling a new story
Yukoners Rosemary Oslund (l), Paige Hopkins, Emily Turner-Davis and Geri-Lee Buyck are heading to the Kingdom of eSwatini for 18 days to tell stories of gender equality through photography and journalism Winter had not yet fully set in in Whitehorse, but you wouldn’t know that on the grey and blustery day I met with four …
Teaching teens about healthy relationships
Would you believe conversations around consent don’t need to be awkward? Shelby Maunder does and she’s sharing the message with youth. Maunder is the executive director of Bringing Youth Towards Equality (BYTE), a for-youth-by-youth organization that’s leading conversations around healthy relationships and consent. Understanding that discomfort and a lack of tools can keep us from having …
Sparking conversations of consent
Wondering who the friendly people are at every festival handing out condoms, making cool buttons and sometimes dressing up like superheroes? If you’ve been to a big event or festival in Yukon, you’ve probably seen the Consent Crew. Made up of four coordinating members and a team of enthusiastic volunteers, the Consent Crew uses conversations …
Didee & Didoo: Allan Benjamin
I know this man from Old Crow Who’s a kind and gentle soul. He was raised by his Didoo She taught him all that she knew. This man is Allan Benjamin And he keeps his fiddle jammin’. When he’s not busy doing that, He’s doing up his snowshoe strap. He’s won many snowshoe races With …
Canada Wide Science Fair Winners
All three Yukon participants in the 2018 Canada Wide Science Fair have brought home medals
Just Dance
The upcoming edition of Leaping Feats’ annual year-end dance show, Dancing Through Life 2018, will be taking place over four nights, with one show per day from May 31 until June 3.
Growing beats in the Yukon
What do you like about beats? I like that our heart is one. Also, they seem to grow well in the Yukon. Daniel Mackenzie started Free the Beat Foundation with a mission to “encourage people to express themselves through the art of rhyming, singing, beatboxing, freestyling, playing musical instruments, producing, recording [and] scoring, on a …
Building character, helping youth
When Bailey Rumbolt first arrived at the Boys and Girls Club of Yukon (BGCY) in 2015, she would never have guessed that it would lead her to big changes in her life.
Yukon Music – Improvisation is Key
The Vanier Junior Jazz Band won first place in the Under 16 category of BYTE’s Battle of the Bands – again!
Yukon Pomp
There’s a furry addition to Team Yukon’s uniforms as they march into the opening ceremony of the Arctic Winter Games in the Northwest Territories on March 18. Athletes will sport fur pom-poms made from wolf pelts harvested in the Haines Junction area and sewn onto their hats by members of the community.
Creative learning heads outside of Whitehorse
More than 200 Yukon students gathered at F.H. Collins Secondary School to participate in the territory’s Destination Imagination Yukon Tournament.
Try this!
The annual Youth Art Enrichment program, now entering its 17th year, is an annual four-day intensive art program for Yukon youth, hosted by the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson City. It has changed its dates this year and will be held from March 19 to 22 instead of its traditional November schedule. KIAC’s …
The sounds of the next generation
The annual BYTE Battle of the Bands, which will feature up to 10 groups, has been taking place for over a decade and has teamed up for the second year with Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous as an affiliated event at Shipyards Park.
Celebrate our local hockey team’s good deeds
The local hockey team, led by coach Michael Nemeth, is a semi finalist in the nationwide Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup Competition this year.
Girls Gone Wild(erness)
Martha Henderson didn’t expect to get one of the six Young Nature Leadership Grants awarded by Nature Canada this year. “I’m a bit stressed honestly,” she laughs. “I was like, ‘Oh no, people are expecting things of me now!’” All jokes aside, the 25-year old Whitehorse resident says she’s flattered and honoured to have been …
It was Red, and Shiny, and Wonderful
Did I just miss skipping and hopscotch season? Marbles and jacks? No matter. For me, this is, and always will be, bicycle season. I don’t test my mettle on the pedals very much these days, but I confess to having a lifelong passion for bicycles. It began on my ninth birthday, when I received a …
Where Tradition and Youth Converge
The fiddling tradition is alive and well in the Yukon thanks to the Fiddleheads, a group of young fiddlers ranging in age from 7 to 14,
Training Ground
Mount Sima is “the first mountain in North America to have a jump line in.” That’s what Graham Pollock says. He’s the head coach of the Yukon freestyle ski team. A jump line means a skier can take more than one jump in a row while going down a hill. Sima has three jumps in …
The Life and Times of Teenage Metalheads, WaRRmAuth
WaRRmAuth is one of the most intriguing bands at the forefront of the Whitehorse metal scene revivalt. These teenage stars rock hard.
Future Past
Young Alex DeLarge and his gang of droogs aren’t choosy about whose lives they wreak mindless havoc on. From the down-at-the-heels to the well-heeled, the young thugs attack indiscriminately, mercilessly and irrationally. One thing leads to another and Alex is charged with murder and sentenced to prison. He’s selected for the fictional Ludivico technique, a …
Calling All Arty Teens
From November 2 to 5, youth from all over the Yukon will be converging on Dawson City to hone their art skills in the 16th annual Youth Art Enrichment Program. Hosted by the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC), the four-day program is for Yukon students in Grades 9 to 12 who are …
Out of the basement, into the parks
The clever people who invented Pokémon Go obviously did not have my generation in mind when they launched the new smartphone craze that’s taking the world by storm. When you give the name Snorlax to one of your ethereal and elusive characters, an oldtimer might be forgiven for assuming it’s some new bedtime potion to …
Catch the Infection
Kid Vicious, Starbuck’s Revenge, Goat. No, not my favorite B-movies, but mountain bike trails christened by those who build and ride them. All of these routes, some gnarly and others more family-friendly, can be found up on Mount McIntyre, where years of volunteer labour is culminating this summer in a grand venture by the Contagious …
Through the Eyes of our Youth
“I call this one ‘The Matchmaker’… because she’s the one who matched my mom and dad to me.” Ryan Lawrence, 14, beams at his work on the table. He’s staring at one of about eight photos he is entering into this year’s art show at the ATCO Youth Art Gallery in the Yukon Arts Centre. …
The Tagish Kwan Photo Parlour
Another new initiative has sprung up on the Carcross Commons. Near the totem pole stands an off-white canvas wall tent. Inside, it’s set up as a photography studio. There are lights and high quality cameras with multiple flashes. There is a printer, and a tickle trunk. It’s the second place in the territory to offer …
4-H is Good for Kids
Kids and horses, life doesn’t get much better than that. 4-H is thriving in the Yukon. We are the Spirit Riders 4-H Horse Club, based in Whitehorse and loving everything. We are a district club operating under the umbrella of 4-H Yukon and regionally under 4-H British Columbia. 4-H has been around the Yukon for …
Finding Herself
In 2009, Ayla Sanders graduated from Vanier Catholic Secondary School and got a summer job in Paradise Alley on Main Street in Whitehorse. She did not have plans to pursue a post-secondary education, so she wrote an essay to apply for the Rosemary Burns Grant. This was the first year of the award. Since then …
Nurturing Good Writing
Unlike many a published author, Saskatoon writer Sandy Bonny didn’t study to become one. It just happened. “I haven’t got an English degree,” she says, “and didn’t train or apprentice purposefully with literary mentors before my first publications, but I did always enjoy writing and continued writing recreationally long after it was required for school. …
Showing Torontonians What’s Happening in Old Crow
photos from Old Crow, Yukon Territory, and Inuvik, Northwest Territories from youth workshops held by BYTE
Good Music for Good Causes
November 7 turned out to be an incredibly busy evening for anyone involved in community events in Dawson. There was the closing banquet for the Youth Art Enrichment program, which I mentioned here a few weeks ago. There was an outdoor art installation on the dyke and waterfront called The Deep Dark, involving contrasts of …
Bringing Variety to the Rural School Experience
Students in rural schools can miss out on a number of things in terms of course offerings and opportunities. There are specialty programs in the city that attract a number of rural students to spend time in Whitehorse. Our daughter, for instance, spent half of her Grade 11 year attending the Music Arts and Drama …
The (Tom)boy is back in town
The term tomboy usually refers to a girl who has “male”interests, and has a preference for “male” clothing. You know, the type of girl who likes to wear sweats, plays soccer with the guys and wants be an auto mechanic. That was then. Now, gender fluidity is becoming more common. Some people don’t even want …
Goals and dreams
Thirteen-year-old Piper Allen, of Watson Lake, and Mike Smith, Olympic-gold-medal-winning goalie and bonafide NHLer with the Arizona Coyotes, have two things in common: they love the game of hockey and they can’t wait to meet each other. And they will. Soon. On August 1 and 2, Smith and other NHL players and alumni will be …
“Thinking About the Tomorrow”
It started with a death in the community, a suicide last November. Young people close to the deceased asked each other why it came to that — “What wasn’t there for him? What did he need?” The conversation that started in living rooms extended to teleconferences between communities. Young people talked about what is missing …
Springing into Spring
In the Yukon there isn’t really a spring; rather, it’s an early summer. What I, as a Yukoner, refer to as “spring” is actually the time when the snow melts away — it can be as warm as summer, but the leaves and flowers haven’t come out, yet. No matter, though, spring is always a …
Smaller Guns for Women and Youth
If the gun doesn’t fit the shooter, learning to use it will be difficult and even dangerous. Traditionally, both rifles and shotguns are made to suit an “average” sized person, but sadly that person is male and is larger than the average woman or youth. A gun that is too long for the shooter cannot …
At Least 3 Ways To Use The College
The Yukon College offers a few paths towards a career – even if you don’t know what you want to do, yet. Dibble-dabbling in classes, boning up on university-level courses, or earning a diploma to launch a career — there are a variety of ways students are using the Yukon College. Adam Mickey, for example, …
An Invitation for Arctic Youth to Speak Out
Environmentally conscious youth now have an opportunity to participate in an international virtual conference. The Arctic Coalition Council is hosting its first conference, called Breaking the Ice, to address social, economic, and environmental issues in Arctic regions. Youth between 15 and 30 years old are encouraged to represent the Yukon’s interests. The Yukon College will …
Care and Feeding of Your Skateboarder: It’s that time of year again
And the thaw continues. Its only mid-March, but the snow in Whitehorse is almost gone and the theme from the Twilight Zone goes through my head every morning as I splash through puddles on my way to work. But let us not bemoan the impending planetary catastrophe known as global warming, let us rejoice instead …
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Local gymnasts all win medals
The Polarettes Gymnastic Club faced its first competition of the year and earned quite a few medals. The West Coast Gymnastics Invitational was held Jan. 29 and 30 in Coquitlam, B.C. Gina Sparling won the bronze medal on bars and placed sixth on the vault, ninth on the beam, fourth on the floor and ninth …
Should I hire a young person or someone with experience?
THOSE WHO CHOOSE YOUTH SAY: Let’s face it: whomever you hire will likely be gone within five years. Workers are transient these days and that is not a situation that is unique to the young. However, a young person will not try to fool you into thinking they will spend a long time with you. …
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Olympian is a Special Gift to Christmastime Basketball Camp
When a former Olympian is willing to travel from southern France to Yukon in the middle of December you know there has to be a really good reason. For basketball player Kim Smith that reason is to direct the Future Stars Girls Basketball Camp, something that she is very excited to do, although she does …
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Fishing with Another Generation
As a parent with young kids, I am often concerned about the next generation. I know that children are not getting outside as much anymore. They don’t have as much unstructured play in parks, around trees, or in muddy marshes. I have many childhood memories living in the lower mainland where we were set free …
Youth Bullying Must Stop
There has been a YouTube video going around lately with Ellen DeGeneres pleading to end intolerance after a spate of young gay people committed suicide. Even in this day and age of greater tolerance towards all minorities, and even after 40-plus years of the gay rights movement, gay youth still experience bullying and are still …
MAD kids break the stereotypes
Are you worried about the state of our youth today? I have a cure for you. It is something that works for me every time: I attend a MAD performance at Wood Street Centre. Music Arts Drama is an experiential program advocated for, and now run by, Mary Sloan and Jeff Nordlund. Two semesters a …
