Last week I attended the community magic show put on by Influencers Motivating Influencers (IMI) at East Three Elementary School, and the energy in the school gymnasium was unparalleled to any event I've attended in Inuvik to date.
Hundreds of youth filled the room and hung off of every one of Brian Glow's words.
Screams of excitement and glee ensued after each and every trick he performed.
Nearly every audience member – adults included – eagerly rose their hands and tried to get Glow's attention when he needed an assistant on stage.
Kids gathered right up to the front of the stage and were absolutely captivated by Glow's magic.
What's impressive is that this wasn't the first time the youth had experienced one of Glow's shows.
They had seen him perform a different set earlier, during school hour, but nonetheless, they were completely captivated by the show.
While Glow's community magic show didn't carry a lesson with it and was meant purely to entertain, his earlier show for the kids did.
David DeVos, IMI founder and tour producer told me that Glow's school-hour show told his story of how he was bullied as a youth and how he managed to overcome it.
DeVos said the unique storytelling Glow does through magic has been similarly intriguing to youth all across the North.
IMI is running wellness initiatives all over the Inuvialuit Settlement Region right now, and from what I saw last week, their offerings are extremely engaging.
It is so easy to make topics like anti-bullying, mental wellness and suicide prevention dry and uninteresting, especially to youth.
However, it seems IMI has found a way to hold the ever-shorter attention spans of youth in order to communicate important messages.
Initiatives like the engaging wellness tours that IMI puts on throughout the North are incredibly useful and important, especially in Northern communities, and I'm so glad to hear they're coming back to the ISR next year.