When parents shop online for their teenagers, they usually aren’t searching for a school. But that’s how Tanya and Tamara Moore’s parents found their daughters’ new high school. The Grade 9 twins started at Caronport High School (CHS) last September.

The change of schools took the girls 4,000 km away from their home in Inuvik, N.W.T. which is located two degrees above the Arctic Circle.

“Classrooms in Inuvik were disruptive,” their mother Carol explained. “The girls were having trouble studying. They had asked teachers if they could move their desks out into the hall. Their group of friends was getting smaller and smaller. Some were starting to smoke and drink.”

“We asked to go to a Christian school,” Tanya explained.

Their Dad took their request seriously and found CHS when he started researching Christian high schools on the Internet. After asking around he found out a family friend had once gone to CHS. The Moores decided a road trip was in order.

“We took a vacation and we decided to come check (CHS) out,” Tamara said. “We liked it so we filled out the forms.”

“Everyone was so kind and helpful,” Carol added.

The move was not an easy one for their family. The girls, along with their mother and little brother, relocated to Caronport while their Dad stayed behind and continued to work in Inuvik. He has visited twice this school year.

“It’s hard being apart,” Tanya said.

Even though the move has been a difficult one, the family agrees it has been a good one.

“The kids love it here,” Carol said.

John, the twin’s father who owns a fire extinguisher business in Inuvik, found a practical way to show his appreciation for CHS on his last visit to Caronport.

“He spent a considerable amount of time going through our buildings and giving us a list of everything that needed to be updated,” Briercrest maintenance Dress up Games director Doug Bergren explained. “He then bought close to 200 extinguishers and sold them to us at his cost. He also donated the labour. He made the comment of how much Caronport has done for his family.”

The girls and their mother explain what they want others to know about CHS.

“The experience will be so awesome,” Carol said. “They will get so much out of this school.

“If they want to come here but they’re shy, (CHS) can help them to feel better about themselves,” Tanya said. “Me and Tamara were shy for two days but we found out everyone was so nice and we became un-shy.”

“You just don’t get judged as much,” Tamara added. “A lot of people are open about themselves here and it wasn’t really like that back home.”

Even though the twins enjoy the new relationships they are forming at CHS, they agree they are closest to each other.

“Because we know each other so well,” explained Tanya. “She’s the funniest person I know.”

“We fight a lot,” admitted Tamara. “But sometimes we laugh after that.”

This humour in the sisters’ relationship can be seen when they tell which of them is the oldest.

“I am older by two minutes,” Tamara stated.

“But I was made first,” Tanya said with a grin. “Mom told me.”