A wee excursion in rural Alaska

View of the Aleutian Chain from my prop plane!

In early May I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to visit St. Paul Island: population: 500; location: middle of the Bering Sea. My mission was to visit a school in rural Alaska to observe and to teach, in addition to understanding a little more about life off the road system.

St. Paul Island: "Downtown"

I quickly became known as "New Lady" and was asked who I was visiting and why I was on the island each time I met someone new. This had me in giggles numerous times, and the locals too. The island is reknown for its amazing wildlife, and in particular the huge population of fur seals that inhabit the island throughout summer. This drew many people here in the late 1800s for seal clubbings by the tens of thousands for fancy fur coats in the USA and Russia. There are thousands of beautiful birds on the island in summer too, nesting on the high sea cliffs. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any seals or puffins (my big goal!) but it wasn't for lack of trying - I went for many walks and did manage to see lots of foxes. They were very cute! It was delightful to be near the sea again, even though there was a lot a sea ice on board...

Nesting murres, auklets and red-faced cormorants amidst the icicles!

My experience at the school was really interesting. I loved being in a school from primary school to secondary school - it was so delightful to see the students bonding together. Class sizes are small, as there were only 100 students in the school. Teachers in rural Alaska are highly sought after as turnover is high; of the 10 teachers at that school, three were leaving this year. The Pribilof Islands (of which St. Paul is one) have the world's highest population of Aleut people, and this was certainly evident within the school. The vast majority of teachers in rural Alaska are white, and not Alaska Native. There is an ongoing struggle in education, in which there is a sense of fracture from students' day-to-day life and their time in school. Alcoholism is also prevalent within these communities and the more I read about the history of Alaska I can see why...it is certainly a place for the hardy to live and master and especially historically. With the colonisation of local peoples by Russia in the 1800s, then later purchase of land by America, the native groups lost their sense of identity twice over. I came away from my trip with many musings, questions and a quest to learn more about Alaskan history. With so many different languages, Alaska Native groups and cultural practices within 600,000 people and spread over a state two-thirds the size of the rest of the USA, it is quite unfathomable that one education system will suffice for all...

The Russian Orthodox church stands high on the hill