Transition Camp in Valdez

Monday morning a group of 13 from Lower Yukon School District left for Valdez to attend a 3 day Transition Camp with students at Valdez City High School. I served as chaperone for 3 students from Scammon Bay. Transition Camp is a special workshop to allow students to explore educational, vocational, and career options. Lots of fun and interesting activities are 

scheduled for the students to do. All of which are designed to expose the students to a wide variety of social, work and educational environments. Many of the these were first time experiences for my students!

It was very windy that morning. Look closely and you can see the orange windsock extended.

Janice and Teddy   suited up and buckled in for the flight in the bush plane. 

Francine "Mousie" is a parent who went as a chaperone. She suggested we have a prayer before takeoff. I was glad.

We're all bundled up for 2 reasons: one-it was cold: two-it's school policy during winter to wear cold weather gear--parka, snowpants, boots, hat, and gloves. There's no such thing as packing light here in the winter. 

Our beautiful village from the air! I live near the lights at the top of this photo.

First stop was Hooper Bay to pick up some more students/chaperones. Then on to Bethel.

.

Karl boarding Alaska Airlines in Bethel for Anchorage.

We had a couple hours in Anchorage. This was the first time for several of the students to be in Anchorage airport. It was the first time for Teddy to fly in a jet. He was excited!

.

Our students viewing a map of Alaska during our wait in Anchorage.

The city of Anchorage from the air at about 630 pm.

Welcome to Valdez! 

Biscuits,gravy and reindeer sausage. Yum!

The first morning was eating out for breakfast and a "meet and greet" for students from Lower Yukon and Valdez. Eating in a restuarant is a special thing for kids who live in the Bush.

The next morning the students cooked a delicious breakfast for which they had planned and shopped the previous afternoon.

This is Cody hamming it up for the camera as he flips the pancakes.

Jeraldyne, Thomasina and Jasmine getting the biscuits ready.

Teddy brews the coffee.

Karl and Chantelle give breakfast a "thumbs up".

Mousie at the entrance to the Valdez museum. There are lots of interesting things in the museum. It gave a historical account of Valdez including the 1964 earthquake and the Exxon oilspill.

Waterproof, bear-gut rainsuits made by Eskimo craftsman.

A tribute to the Alaska pipeline which terminates at Valdez. (I'm sitting in the pipe). I was particularly interested in this because all my brothers and brother-in-laws worked on the Alaska pipeline in the 70's. 

 

We visited another museum at the Community College. It had lots of Alaskan artifacts: Eskimo dolls, clothes, arrowheads, and many taxidermy specimens on display like polar bear, mountain goat, sled dogs and seals. 

The students went on a scenic drive to explore around Valdez.

Frozen waterfalls

Valdez harbor at dusk.

We visited the fire station. This was a first for me. The Fire Chief Keeney was a wonderful tour guide. He encouraged the students to explore and let them try on his fire fighters suit and climb in and on the fire truck. 

Karl taking a close look at the Jaws of Life.

Exploring the ambulance.

After supper games. Learning how to play "spoons".

On our last day, each student presented a powerpoint that they had composed about their future educational and career plans. Among the plans were: piano player, NBA player, train driver, mechanic, nurse, and disc jockey. 

This Transition Camp enabled our students to explore, make new friends and stretch their comfort zones. 

I am so proud to see them grow while exhibiting kindness and bravery in new situations!

Goodbye Valdez and Valdez City School. Thank you for being a great host and making us feel welcome in your home. Many memories for a lifetime were made and we hope to come back to see you some day.

Loading the plane on the early morning flight out of Valdez. Thankfully the snow had eased up enough for planes to go. 

Kick Off Klassic 2015

Every year Scammon Bay hosts the Kick Off Klassic. It's an invitational double elimination basketball tournament at the beginning of the season. Here in Alaska, basketball season starts on January 5th. Ten teams flew into Scammon on Wednesday and stayed until Sunday. The coaches, chaperones and teams lodged in our classrooms. They used sleeping bags and blow up mattresses to sleep on the classroom floor. By 8:30 am they were all up and out of the rooms so we could have school during the day. Some of the ballgames were played during the day. So, you can guess what my classes were doing! Our lunchroom staff fed them 3 meals a day plus snacks. It's quite an operation, I must say!  

Residents of Scammon Bay take their hospitality and their basketball very seriously.

Almost everyone in the village turns out for the tournament. Also, several visitors from other villages came over too.

Below are pics of Tournament parking. All those snow-goes and 4-wheelers are parked between the school and teacher housing!  It was like walking through a maze in order to get from home to work!

 

There's lots of school spirit here. Students and staff made signs welcoming the other teams and cheering everyone on. We even have mascots that entertain and throw memorabalia into the crowd

 

Ready for some Basketball?!!

Here are of few of my students in action on the basketball court...

Tip Off!

Jerry taking the 3-pointer.

Audi

Jadon

Kiah going for the 3-pointer

Samantha and Naomi

Leo at the line.

The games were exciting and best of all......

both of our teams won  first place in the Kick Off Klassic of 2015.

Congratulations to Scammon Bay boys and girls basketball teams! 

What a great way to start the season!

Girls MVP and 3-point contest winner--Kiah

Boys MVP---Angel (the tall guy under the basket)

In addition to the games, we had a fabulous hospitality room for coaches, chaperones and other guests. I worked with several of the local ladies and I wanted to share with you the feast that was put on display and eaten by many a grateful visitor. 

We worked hard, had fun, lots of laughs and great food!

Marie preparing Fry Bread dough.                             Wanda preparing Yupik Salad.

Alice making her famous Agutaq--Eskimo Ice Cream. Every family has their own secret recipe for Agutaq. Generally, it has Crisco, sugar, berries, and fish in it. 

Several ladies came up and made big bowls of agutaq.  It was the most popular treat in the room! 

This is Leota making her special recipe.

Some call it Fry Bread. Some call it Oil Bread.  I call it Yum!

Fry Bread is like funnel cake without the sugar.

Below is a pic of very traditional Yupik food: The larger plate is herring eggs on kelp with a bottle of seal oil for dipping. and whale meat is in the smaller plate. (I had no idea that seal oil would be yellow)

Dried fish strips

And last but not least......a bit of Arkansas.....Betty Cook's delectable chocolate sauce!

Yes, eating rich, buttery chocolate sauce together builds bridges across many cultural barriers.

Thanks, Mom. (and to my sisters for giving me the recipe over the phone!)