School's out...and it's snowing?

Yes, my friends, today is a memorable day.  It's the last day of school in SMK, and it is not yet spring, anywhere in Alaska.  Anchorage, for example, expects to get three inches of snow today, and we had a mini-blizzard this morning around 7:00.

The last day was relatively peaceful and very enjoyable for all, though.  I held a sale in my classroom for the students to spend the rest of their classroom money, and they left laden down with pop, candy, and other similarly unhealthy junk.  We followed that with a performance by some of the classes (not mine) showcasing what they had learned from our percussionist-dancer-actor Artist-in-Residence, Eddie Wood.  I remembered to get a picture during the high school's performance:

The boys on the left put a little Yup'ik flair into their drumming, and the three on the floor were very concentrated on their rather complex rhythms.

After the performance, we had a balloon-stomping game, which most of the kids thoroughly enjoyed--I only saw one Kindergartener in tears from the loud balloons--and then hot dogs, french fries, and pop for lunch.  The kids' day was done at that point, and we resumed working on our checkout lists.

At a brief faculty meeting, the departing teachers were given going-away presents, which also had an Alaskan flair:

Aside from being very cool, I always had a rabbit skin growing up as a kid, and it's nice to have a souvenir that doubles as a "comfort object."

We have a work day tomorrow, and are expected to check out of school by tomorrow afternoon.  Anyone who knows my work habits knows this will cramp my style considerably--I'm not sure I've ever been done at school before a week after the last day of classes.  But the principal leaves early next week, so it's gotta be done.  I even have to "check out" of my apartment on Monday, though I won't leave until at least Friday.  Again, anyone who knows my housekeeping skills (or more precisely, my poor housekeeping habits--my momma did train me better) knows it's gonna be interesting to see if my house can be presentable by then.

For those of you who don't already know, I won't be returning to SMK next year.  I had to make the decision in February, since the village schools try to hire in March and April, but I didn't want to make it public until the school year was over.  It's been a great experience, but some of the challenges one faces in many village communities are ones that I don't think I'm the best person to help solve.  So where will I be next year?  Please tell me if you know!  I've applied throughout Southcentral Alaska (ANC and environs), but they (I think? I hope?) haven't started hiring yet, so I haven't gotten any more than one interview, and haven't heard back from them.  I'm not officially worried about next year--I'm quite sure that somebody will need a teacher right before school starts, so if I haven't gotten a job by then, I'll fill that need.

If I end up in another of "Earth's imagined corners" next year, I'll continue this blog (at least as sporadically as I have this year).  At the very least, I'll post once more to let interested parties know where I end up--you have to know how the story ends.  Thanks for reading!

AMDG

Tim Main

Field Trip!

All year I had been saving our science unit on oceans to do at the end of the school year, once the snow  and ice had melted.  Guess I'm still an Oklahoma boy at heart--there's still snow, and the bay is still solid.

In fairness, it has warmed up slowly this spring, but measuring salinity, tides, water pollution--not really all that likely in western Alaska in May.

Even so, we took a field trip to the beach yesterday.  We were planning to collect and measure rocks, clean up pollution on the beach, and then just enjoy ourselves.  The last two got done, an as the song says, two out of three ain't bad.

I'll let the pictures (and captions) tell the story:

On our way to the beach--a hike of 1/2 mile or so

I was with the last group to arrive--Elias, our janitor, led the first group.  Joshua (foreground) wanted me to retake the picture so it looked like he was holding the class, but I was eager to get the whole group together.  The kids are standing on the beach, but the (solid) bay is the expanse of white beyond them.

Students journaling about animals and other things they had seen.  Some of the journals "mistakenly" got thrown into the campfire and had to be redone at school.

Elias (center) had the fire burning by the time I got there (no more than 10 min after him).  The kids enjoyed using their graded homework as kindling, though you can see that some of it tried to blow away.  If Elias hadn't been there, we would have (1) had a cold lunch and (2) had to go back much earlier.

One of the local dogs, Chica, chose to come along with us.  She got at least two hot dogs for lunch; the kids wanted to feed her more since she has puppies to nurse.

A short-lived kickball game

On the hunt for pollution

Bernelle had the find of the trip--the skull (and backbone) of a small fox.  She and all the boys found it fascinating; most of the girls found it gross.

Another view of the skull.  Mr. Main found the skull fascinating, too!  The jaw was intact and operable, and there was a "beard" of fur left on the chin.

The results of one group's pollution hunt.  Many of the small pieces are "sea glass," from a ship that sank (?) in the 1800s.  Lots of glass still washes ashore, with the edges conveniently rounded, so it makes a nice collectable.

The pollution hunters that belong to the collection above: Jaylyn, Frank, and Cory

Pollution collection #2

Pollution hunters, group 2: Cheray, Autumn, Ryleigh, and Bernelle (and Chica again)

Last pollution collection.  Notice the black sand on all of our beaches due to its volcanic origin

Last group of pollution hunters: Eric, Silas, and Joshua.  Eric was also one of the 9 (all cousins) who made their First Communion two weeks ago.  I didn't get pictures of that, but I'll try to find some from one of the other teachers and post them.

Lunch around the campfire: hot dogs and s'mores

One more pic of lunch (and the photographer's finger) brings the photojournal to an end.

We left at 10:00 or so, but even leaving late, we were cold by 1:30, so we hiked back to school, watched science videos, and had a paper-airplane-flying competition.  Overall, a success: no injuries (we have our guardian angels to thank for that), no major discipline problems, and a mostly enjoyable experience.  Not so enjoyable for the kids was having to stay after school today when they didn't get their work done on time.  Lots of complaints!  Still, only two more days of school.  After that, I'll be packing up and leaving, to be back in Anchorage around the 25th.  I'll try to post at least once more from SMK before I leave.

Some will be interested to know that one of the students missed the field trip to go goose-hunting with his father, and another missed school today to hunt.  Like in earlier days in the Lower 48, hunting (always to eat) takes precedence over school.

AMDG

Tim

Tragedy in Stebbins

In Stebbins, the only village connected to St. Michael by road, one of the local residents was found dead today, a likely suicide.

The young man was a grandson of the head cook here at our school, and a relative of many of our students.  Suicide is all too common in Alaska's remote villages, so we're very fortunate that this has been the only such incident this year.

Please pray for all involved, especially those close to the young man.  The last thing we want is for this to be the first of many, and prayer is our greatest weapon against that possibility.