When I was in K-12, over 70% of teachers in Alaska were imported from the lower 48. And in the village where I grew up, near Bethel, the teacher turnover rate was 50%. Teachers never integrated into our community, which made learning difficult since we couldn’t develop long-term relationships with the people who were supposed to inspire us. It was challenging to trust outsiders as it was, let alone when they arrived with new faces each year.
Looking back, I was always a natural teacher. An early reader, I’d help my friends in elementary school with their letters and numbers. Some of those friends now say I was bossy! When I got to high school, I found out about my school’s teaching mentorship program, in partnership with UA’s Intergenerational Immersion Program. I spent all of high school mentoring other students as a part-time job. I took classes about pedagogy, earned college credits for UA, and made money at the same time. I probably learned as much as my mentees, not so much about history and biology, but a lot about communicating, patience, and finding alternate ways to explain concepts when the first attempt doesn’t work. I loved this program. Getting exposed to teaching as a profession at a young age solidified my life’s path.
When I graduated high school there was no question that I’d go to UA to cement my training and get a teaching certificate. But I lived far away and didn’t want to move in order to study. I wanted educational opportunities without leaving my community. UA made that possible for me. I received my degree primarily online, and twice a year I attended weeklong intensives at campus, with other teachers-in-training from across the state. These in-person experiences were very enriching and helped form our current network of Alaskan educators. It’s amazing that my life has come full circle. The mentorship program I did in high school? I now oversee its activities in our district.
UA has done a fantastic job of building strong relationships with Alaska’s schools, especially in rural areas. When I was growing up, few kids knew much about UA. Now my students follow UA athletic teams, even wear their jerseys. I never thought I’d see kids from my village excited about college. The majority of them are economically disadvantaged but going from high school to college has become seamless. And the teacher problem is gone. In our district, 90% of teachers are from Alaska, and the turnover rate is practically zero. Our communities are stronger because of it.
My teaching passions are geology and art. For me, they’re one and the same. Historically in our culture, visual art has been a vehicle for experiencing empathy with the environment. I love deepening young Alaskans’ knowledge of our landscape. I push them to explore intellectual concepts, and personal experiences, through their art. My most popular class, an experimental one, combines geology, wildlife biology, and art (visual and performance). To develop it, I received guidance from UA, which connected me to art educators in Alaska and around the world. I’m grateful to UA for continuing to propel me as an educator, long after I received my degree.