Kakisa grad had to go the distance — literally — to earn his diploma

This story is a part of N.W.T. Graduates 2020, a CBC North special that showcases high school grads from across the territory. It airs live Thursday June 18 at 7 p.m., on CBC Radio One, on the website and on CBC NWT Facebook.

To graduate high school, northerners have to go the distance.

No one knows that more than Tarek Leahy-Chicot. He's from Kakisa, N.W.T., a tiny community of just a few dozen residents more than 130 kilometres from Hay River, where he went to school.

That meant a lot of driving — beginning with pre-school, three times a week. He attended Grades 1 to 9 in Kakisa but it was back to the road for hockey practice — an hour and a half in each direction.

The person doing that driving was Leahy-Chicot's mom, Sheila — hundreds of hours every year. But she wasn't bothered.

"It's almost like a natural thing for me to do," she said.

It's not like Sheila had acres of free time. Leahy-Chicot's dad died of cancer when he was still quite young. Sheila was raising him by herself, fitting in shifts at work around those long drives to keep her kid in school.

Eventually, while Leahy-Chicot finished high school, the family rented an apartment in Hay River so he could go to high school and his mother accepted a full time job in the community. It meant less driving, but presented other challenges.

"Having two homes is kind of difficult," said Leahy-Chicot. He spent his weekends in Kakisa, spending his time with family. But every Monday, he had to say goodbye to home, and immerse himself in school in an altogether different place.

Now, all that hard work has paid off. Leahy-Chicot is graduating high school this week.

"Feels like I accomplished a big thing," he said.

He's not wrong.

Graduating in the N.W.T. is tough — only about half of students make it across the finish line. That number is even fewer among Indigenous students like Leahy-Chicot, and especially for students from small communities like Kakisa.

An auditor general's report earlier this year found that fewer than 40 per cent of Indigenous students from small communities graduate — and just 20 per cent on time.

Chicot can thank his own hard work for that success, but also the support he received from his family — and those long drives are just a part of it. He says his uncles and grandmother were instrumental in helping him become the person he is.

Lloyd Chicot, his uncle, is Kakisa's chief. He said between peer pressure and the barriers to accessing education, graduating high school is "one of the bigger accomplishments" for members of his community.

"It takes quite a bit of work to get things done here," he said. "I'm glad that he's accomplished what he's done."

Leahy-Chicot plans to go to Alberta to become a heavy duty mechanic — a good paying job that will allow him to someday return home to the community he's already had to live away from for so long.

He says his goal is to "have more than enough money to care for the family … and still come back [to] the roots I came from."

"[I want to] follow their footsteps," he said, "be happy, [and] proud."