The New Cover
A few weeks ago, I received a call from the principal of Eek School.
Eek is a Yup’ik, Eskimo, village 415 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska. Starting in 2007, I taught in the village school for seven years. Because it is a small village of 300 people, I quickly learned the name, and backgrounds, of nearly every student.
Everyone from pre-school to high school is in one ten-room building. Most of the time, I worked with small groups of students of various ages. However, in the first year, I taught a class of mostly sixth-grade students. I watched them grow over the years from children to teens and verging on adulthood. This year, in the largest graduation in memory, eight students would receive their diplomas from the school.
That’s why Brett, the principal of Eek School, called me a few weeks ago. Most of the students from my original sixth-grade class would be graduating and, they wanted me to be there and speak at the ceremony.
I was excited to be back in the village, see so many friends and, most of all, to see these eight students graduate.
Back: Shawn Cingliaq Alexie and Evon Apataq White
Third Row: Terrance Cingarkaq Henry and Gerald Putuk Brown
Second Row: Florence Akuqaq Moore
First Row: Timothy Cirunaq Heakin, Christian Angassaq Pleasant and Frank Callaq Carter.
They are the students on the new cover of the website. I wish you all the very best as you begin your adult lives.
I’ll be writing more about Eek, the school and these graduates in the coming days.