The Scoop on ALASKA

As many of you already know, I recently accepted a school counseling position in the state of Alaska. I will be working with the Yukon-Koyukuk School District (YKSD) based out of Fairbanks, Alaska. The school district serves 9 small village schools along the Yukon, Koyukuk, and Tanana River. Only 2 of the villages can be reached via road system. I will be serving as the counselor of these 2 schools along with 2 others. Although I will serve between 4 schools (all which are K-12), my total number of students will only be around 100.

I will be living and primarily working in Minto, Alaska. It's about 40 air miles from Fairbanks but because of the river flats, the drive is about 120 miles. About once a month, I will drive to Manley and fly to Hughes and Allakaket for work. That's right, I said fly!! Because only 2 of the villages can be reached via road system, travel to the other villages is by small airplane. I consider myself lucky (since my "home" will be on the road system) because I can drive into Fairbanks on the weekends. Others living in the villages that are not on the road system must fly in and out of the bush which can be quite costly. If you don't know, rural Alaska is called the Alaskan Bush. If you are not living in a town (which there are very few), you live in the Alaskan Bush so to speak.

The students attending YKSD schools are primarily Alaska Natives. There are a number of native tribes in Alaska but in this area, most students are Athabascan.

Our school district sent 23 certified employees to Vail, Colorado last week for a week-long educational conference (PEAK Institute). I really enjoyed this week and was thankful for the opportunity to get to attend. I met some really great people that I will get to work with this fall. On top of receiving 40 hours of professional development (which is critical for educators), we got to do some hiking, horseback riding, bbq'ing, etc. It was really interesting getting to meet people from all over the country that have been or will be working in Alaska. Everyone is so unique and has something great to contribute to the students in YKSD.

I plan to arrive in Minto on August 5th. After settling in for a few days, I will drive into Fairbanks for a week of in-service training August 9th-13th. The entire school district attends the training so I think this is going to be a really fun week for everyone. The following Monday and Tuesday are teacher work-days in which I will use to get ready for the first day of school Wednesday, August 18th. I'm looking forward to a great year!!

More to come as I prepare for my adventure to Alaska.....