Culture Days, Senior Dinner, and Graduation

Senior Dinner

Graduation

This is the basket I made

Akutaq

WOW!! What a week we've had out here in the village! It was probably the busiest week since we hosted Elementary NYO. Monday and Tuesday were Culture Days, where the students participated in many different culture events including making Lap Balls (for a game similar to baseball called Lap Game), Eskimo Ice Cream (akutaq in Yupik), spears, drums, and many other things. I was in charge of showing the girls how to make baskets, which was a lot of fun. Then on Thursday evening we had the Senior Dinner. Each of our fourteen seniors were allowed to invite six people, but because of younger children and such, there was about 115 people or so. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Finally, Friday night was graduation. By the time we got to the ceremony, the number of graduates had increased to seventeen students! That is the largest number of students graduating from our school in the last fifteen years. 

Making Akutaq-Eskimo Ice Cream

Working hard on basket making

Making a basket

 Monday and Tuesday were kind of hectic and crazy. There was a lot going on. The high schoolers were split into three groups- 7th and 8th graders, 9th and 10th graders, and 11th and 12th graders. The 7th and 8th grade boys were with the science and reading teachers, the 9th an 10th graders were with the social studies teacher, and the 11th and 12th graders were with the Elementary Yupik teacher. They worked on a few different projects in their respective classrooms. The girls, however moved from room to room. In my room they did basket making. In the writing classroom they worked on beading, the Yupik teacher taught them to make keychains and the math teacher showed them how to make lap balls. On top of that, each group went to the Special Education classroom for an hour to learn how to make akutaq. I went out with two different groups, so if anyone wants any lessons this summer, I'll do my best to teach you. Also, each group practiced a certain Eskimo dance for half an hour each day. 

Eskimo Dancing with face painted like a seal

Then, on Tuesday, we invited all the people in our village to come watch the students dance. We also handed out the akutaq we had made during the week. I had a wonderful time, learned a lot, and am looking forward to doing it again.

Senior Dinner setting up

Yummy food

Thursday was the Senior Dinner. Fourteen students brought their family members to share in their success. We served about 115 people plates piled with a cinnamon roll, shrimp, ribs, steak, and corn. We also had cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, blueberry pies, and apple pies for dessert. The families were so happy with their students for all of their hard work and accomplishing something so important. I loved getting to see all the students enjoying themselves and getting their hard earned praise for a job well done. 

Graduation starting

For graduation, I spent a while after school helping set up. Then came back to the school where it was super crowded and everyone was staring at the seventeen seniors. That's right, I said seventeen. During the course of the day on Friday, three more students were able to graduate. The last one finished at 4:15. Granted, two of those students didn't actually get their diplomas, they received Certificates of Attendances, which means they will finish taking courses this summer, but that is still a pretty big accomplishment out here. It took a while to find out, but the last time we had this many graduates from our school was about fifteen years ago. The guest speaker was the Social Studies teacher who has been here for six years. His first year in our village was these students' seventh grade year- they were his first group of students at this high school and it was their first year in high school. We are all so proud of them!

S.S. teacher was the guest speaker

This next week we will have 8th grade graduation and then we will be closing in on the last day of school. It's a bittersweet deal. I'm so excited to be done with the school year and go see my family this summer, but I also will miss my students and getting to talk to them and joke them with just about every day. This year has been so wonderful. I have truly loved my first year teaching and the students I was blessed with. I hope they all have a great summer!