Success Stories

Five Ancient Cultures of the Northern Peninsula

Results of Roncalli School’s collaboration with the Port au Choix historic site

Inside, the Roncalli High School students on the remote coast of Newfoundland are bursting with pride at their unparalleled technological achievements. But outside, they try hard to maintain a tone of modest understatement. "Well, we got to spend time with our good buddies," says Ricky Applin, a Grade 12 student who, along with six of those buddies, spent the summer building a handsome and informative Web site about the ancient cultures of the province’s northern peninsula.

The project, a partnership with the Port au Choix Historic Site, was funded by Canada’s Digital Collections (CDC), an Industry Canada program. The Roncalli school site meticulously portrays the way of life of the inhabitants of the North Atlantic coast some 4,000 years ago.

The Canada’s Digital Collections program, funded by the federal Youth Employment Strategy, has enabled over 2,300 young Canadians (ages 15-30) to gain valuable work experience in the multimedia sector. By converting significant Canadian content for display on the Information Highway, Canadian youth have not only gained skills for knowledge-based employment but have provided greater access to Canadian holdings located in archives, libraries, museums, associations and other sources. 

“[The project] was good and enjoyable,” Applin recalls. “We learned a lot about HTML design and the northern cultures.” Although well versed in computers, the team had to learn some new skills in order to complete the project. “We had new codes to do, new languages to learn. But most of us knew a bit already.”

Nick Rose, 16, was eager to participate in the collaborative effort. “We learned how to co-operate and communicate. When one of us had trouble, we just figured it out together.” 

According to teacher Donald Tulk, the spirit of co-operation permeated the tiny school, whose 210 pupils in Grades 7 to 12 hail from four surrounding communities. For the past five years, thanks largely to Tulk’s efforts, Roncalli High has developed an extensive technology curriculum.

For these students, the CDC project was just another in a string of high-tech challenges. Under the guidance of custodians at the Port au Choix Historic Site, the teenagers developed a fascinating and dynamic Web site. “We felt very proud when that page with our names went up,” recalls Rose, a student in Grade 11.

The project was not produced without some adversity. Things were humming along during the summer of 1997 until lightning struck the Web server, severely damaging 10 instruments. Undaunted, the Roncalli students fixed the machines and resumed work on the project. After the unbelievable lightning strike, the youngsters had one more interruption, the opportunity to train 20 teachers on computer uses, including the finer points of Web design, HTML editing and e-mail. “The feedback from the teachers was that it had been a great [workshop],” Tulk says with a chuckle.

Not surprisingly, these resourceful young Newfoundlanders are not worried about landing future jobs. In fact, Christian Rankin, another Grade 12 student on the CDC project, obtained a summer position in Ottawa with a computer company specializing in Web sites. “This experience enhanced all my skills: design, editing, layout, everything to do with HTML” he says. Not bad for a relative novice in cyberspace. “The Canada’s Digital Collections project was actually my first real job using computers.” 

Visit the Canada's Digital Collections World Wide Web Site at http://collections.ic.gc.ca