Spring Fever & Senioritis

I noticed a few glances were still being made on the blog. I really should have written sooner as there is so much to catch up on. First Spring is here in McGrath I will post some pictures soon. This means it is time to ice fish and get ready to go bird hunting. We are getting nervous about break up as we normally do. Spring also brings the threat of a flood. We haven't had a terrible flood since the early 90s.

It has been a rough semester February 15th, my friend passed away from a brain tumor. She was only 27. It is so hard loosing peers, as it feels so unreal. I think after that I just wanted to spend time with my family and school work took a back burner.

I started training for Arctic Winter Games with my daughter. We went to Yellow Knife for the competition in March and it was wonderful. She did so well. I had much more fun watching her then competeing. I think this is my gradual step to quit competing. No, not yet. I still have it in me for a few more games. At the AWG we competed in the Inuit games much like at World Eskimo Indian Olympics.

I have decided to take another year off from student teaching. The primary reason is to spend time with my children. We only have 3 more years with Alice and our son is entering 7th grade. He has done so terrible here in the McGrath school. He did so well in Fairbanks, it was sad to see his academic performance dwindle here. Our children are our first priority and that means getting them out of here so that they may have a chance in the academic world and continue on to college.

I am still working with our youth, and it makes me sad that I won't be here next year for them. That is the hardest leaving our community, but for the sake of our children we don't have a choice. I will be taking 7 students to the Native Youth Olympic competition in Anchorage April 24-26th. Wish us luck!

JNYO Success & College Update

I just got back from Anchorage. We had 14 students competing and ended up with 7 medals. I know I know it is not about the medals, but they sure are a fun extra bonus. Our students behaved so wonderfully. We had 3 days of competition and some of the days our students didn't compete so they would have to sit and watch their team mates. Imagine that, 7 1st and 2nd graders just sitting for hours!!! I would encourage anyone reading this in Rural Alaska to get your students out anyway you can for the experience alone. We took our students ice skating at the Dimond Center and they didn't want to leave the rink! Yes, even though we live in icey conditions this was the first time for many to go ice skateing, and they loved it. They also loved the 5th avenue with all the escalators and the glass evelvator! It was a wonderful trip!

My school up date is that I am still going to finish up this semester so I can student teach in the fall (keep your fingers crossed)! I am having to take classes here though and not in Fairbanks, because I couldn't get into the dorms I wanted. So, that means three of my classes are paperbased through correspondence, UGH! I am just going to have to be disciplined!

Well, I am not sure if anyone is still reading these, but I thought I would give it a shot, just in case!