THREE RIVERS AREA — Cabot native Kara Phillips, now a teacher in Alaska's bush, flew with some students to a nearby village last year to attend a basketball tournament. Weathered out, it would be four days before Phillips, the coach and the students could make the 40-mile trek back to their homes in Hooper Bay. With suspended flying service, the two teachers and students had to negotiate a "seriously" snow-covered pass that required riding snowmobiles for several hours. Phillips' ride was on a sled pulled behind a snowmobile. The experience wasn't exactly what she bargained for when she agreed to chaperone, but it turned out to be a memorable event.
"We flew over and the storm rolled in," Phillips said. "After four days, we still couldn't fly so we decided to go back on snowmobiles. Parents were getting worried about their kids. I was riding in a sled pulled behind a snow mobile. I was bundled up really good but I kept thinking that I was going to freeze to death. The trail was bumpy and it was a continual bump up and down.Nothing ever has been as pretty as the lights of Hooper Bay. When we got there, I could hardly move."
Dealing with the weather isn't that big of a deal for the natives. And now that she has a year of teaching in one of the last frontiers under her belt, it's also becoming the norm for her. It is not uncommon in any area of the state to be "weathered in," or "weathered out" for a few days, she said. This happens when the planes can't fly into or out of a community. It begins snowing in thefall and in May, there's still generally four foot of snow on the ground with it melting in June.
Moving to Alaska, Phillips said she has missed her Cabot family but she has also developed some strong bonds in Alaska.
She's befriended several other teachers. Perhaps the strongest relationship is with Jarrod Haymond of West Virginia. The two are now dating and he was in Cabot visiting with Phillips last week.
Teachers moving to Alaska from the Lower 48, Phillips said, must adjust to several things including the weather, buying food and supplies in bulk, getting around, the smells, the scenery, social expectations and local lingo while living in village.
A population of about 2,000, Hooper Bay is a tight-knit community, and she suspects that is a common thread throughout Alaska. But she has found the villagers are very accepting and appreciative of teachers.
Crime in the villages isn't as big a factor as it is in some of the lower states.
Affordable cellular phones appeared on the scene in Hooper Bay in November, she said. By March or April, most in the village had acquired one.
"Everyone got word the tower was up, and I got my cell phone in the mail the day before I left on Christmas break," she added. "It was pretty exciting for everyone."
While there are four or five trucks and a van or so in Hooper Bay, the main form of transportation is foot traffic, "snow machines," and four wheelers. The cost of gasoline to fuel the few motorized vehicles is about $7.43 per gallon. While there is no state tax, Phillips said the cost of living makes up for it. For instance, a bag of Doritos cost about $8 and a carton of sodas are about $10. Food tends to be very expensive whether it is from the grocery store or at an eatery. There aren't many restaurants in Hooper Bay, she said, and the couple there are only open three nights per week.
"You don't just go out to eat all the time," she said. "I kind of had a problem with that at first."
The Internet comes in handy for some mail-order purchases. Also, urban cities such as Anchorage provide supplies.
"All the teachers go together and make a meat order. When it is filled, it's air-mailed to us," Phillips said.
A lot of socializing in Hooper Bay involves potlucks and board games. The school is truly the hub of the village, providing a site for many social activities including sporting events. If it is an indoor sport, Phillip said, the children are aware of it and play. Outside sports such as baseball, children know little about.
About the only one thing the school is not utilized for is housing for the voting polls, she said.
Voting in the presidential election required walking a distance in the snow. She went right after her teaching day ended. It was late, though, before a friend decided to go with her, making a second trip to provide company along the walk. This time, Phillips paid a price.
"I fell in the snow up to my waist and ended up crawling to the place where you actually voted," she said.
The school enrollment for the 2008-09 year in Hooper Bay was 412 students, Phillips said. Of which, her charge for the year was the instruction of 17 fourth- and fifth-graders in everything from reading, writing and math to physical education and health.
On the first day of school, unlike students in the Lower 48, students showed up empty handed as far as their supplies.
"The school basically provides everything for them," she explained. "And they aren't that eager to learn.
"They weren't so trusting at first. They just looked at me."
She broke the ice by telling them stories. They love to hear stories about the Lower 48 and most are anxious to see any photos. Most of the students in her class, she said, weren't aware of life outside of Alaska. But they have heard about the states of Texas and Hawaii, Phillips added.
While teachers are well respected, students address them by their first names. The students, Phillips said, all also have nicknames, and teachers who can remember them are held in high regard. In her case, she was also coined with a nickname.
"The kids named me Nep'tag. I went to a native teacher and she said it is a good name for me," Phillips said. "I was told it means white fish or pretty fish."
Students were distraught, she recalled, when she announced last year that she would be returning to Cabot for the Christmas break.
"They just knew that I was leaving on the first plane out and that I wasn't coming back," Phillips said. "Some kids had three or four teachers last year. Teachers come and go."
Although there is limited resources, Phillips said most of the students are technologysavvy when it comes to video games and the Internet. However, the students attending Phillips' classes weren't intopolitics that much. In fact, she said, they didn't even know that Sarah Palin was Alaska's governor. When quizzed during the past presidential election, one child thought maybe she was the mayor of Anchorage.
"But we got to watch the inauguration and they thought it was cool to see what everyone was wearing," she said.
Phillips isn't sold on ever leaving Alaska.
"I love everything about it - the snowboarding, fishing, the snow and of course, the breathtaking beauty isn't toobad, either," Phillips said. "You can see forever but the mountains are visible. Village life is what works for me right now. At this point in my life, I can't see myself teaching children anywhere else."
Returning earlier in the week to Alaska, both Phillips and Haymond have transferred to teach in Kotlik Village, with a population of less than 1,000, to teach this school year.
Phillips anticipates she will not return to Cabot for a visit until next year because of the long flight and weather.
Three Rivers, Pages 119, 121 on 08/23/2009