Currently, 249 young people from Greenland are in secondary school in Denmark.
This has prompted the Secondary School Association to send a letter to all secondary schools in mid-January with a call to be aware of unrest and concern among the young people as a result of the geopolitical situation and Trump's desire to take over Greenland.
The 249 students are distributed throughout the country. The majority are at Galtrup Secondary School in Mors, where 54 students from Greenland attend, and where they also have a Greenlandic teacher employed. – We talk to our students every morning after we have watched the news together. But their immediate reaction is that they shrug their shoulders and say that Trump is a fool. So in that sense it is not something that particularly concerns them but we are of course very aware of the situation, says principal Jens Hvid.
Hormones are more important than fear
A little further south near Aarhus is Tjele Efterskole, which also traditionally has a number of students from Greenland. This year there are 8 students affiliated with the school, divided into scooters, mountain bikes, art and table tennis. Here too, the American interest in Greenland is discussed, although according to the principal, other things are more important to the young people.
– Hormones are more important than fear of the USA. In that way, the young people from Greenland are just like all other young people. But of course, the geopolitical situation also catches their attention in glimpses, if, for example, they have just spoken to their parents at home or have seen something on social media, says principal Jimi Holstebro.
– We have a teacher who has worked in Greenland for many years, and another teacher who has been in Greenland for 10 years, and then we have a teacher who is half Greenlandic. We have spent a lot of time with his mother talking to the young people about the current situation. She regularly comes and gathers the young people and talks to them about any concerns they may have, says principal Jimi Holstebro.
The young people are thriving
In Hjørring in Northern Jutland, 15 Greenlandic young people are enrolled at Halvorsminde Efterskole og FriFagskole. A large group of boys play futsal, but there are also some who play music and have a major in gastronomy. Every week, a coffee meeting is held, where a Greenlandic woman from the local area stops by and talks to the young people about how they are doing. And it works well, says deputy head Lise Mikkelsen.
“Then we eat cake and drink coffee and talk about how things are going, and here naturally we have also talked about reactions to the geopolitical situation. As with other young people, some are more affected than others, and we take care of that.
– But we generally experience that our young people from Greenland thrive here at Halvorsminde, and they have done so in recent years, when we have had a larger group from Greenland than before. They have a community with each other that makes them feel safe, so that they can also be part of the large community with other young people. In addition, they all speak Danish well, and that also means something for their well-being.
A new perspective on the world According to Lise Mikkelsen, the young people get a sense of community from the post-secondary school year, and that helps to give them a new perspective on the world.
They get new relationships and I also hope that they get the experience that everyone can contribute something. We have a great diversity at our post-secondary school, where in addition to young people from Greenland, we also have young people from Denmark, Germany and Australia, which helps to show the strength of diversity.
