The new school begins the year by having the high school students spend most of the day completing service projects. I spent time with the group that cleaned the school playground before heading over to the cemetery to pick up trash and cut down willow bushes. This made the cemetery look better and the kids thought it would be nice to clip the grass at some point. The other two groups picked berries for the elders and put up a welcome to town sign by the airport, near the beach.
Once the time for service projects ended, we hopped into several vehicles and drove out to the local bible camp located about 20 minutes out. It was a dirt road the whole way but the kids all knew its location. When we got there, we set things in the cabins and started dinner. The above picture was taken out the window on the second floor, near where I stayed.
This is looking towards the road you come in. Only the truck with food was the only one allowed in all the way. The others had to park about 15 minutes down the road and people hiked in. Some folks brought suitcases while others brought backpacks. I brought a backpack and sleeping bag.
I took this photo from the corner of the porch, To the right you see the kitchen and dining hall. The metal roof you see is where they usually do dishes but we used paper plates to cut down on washing. Every grade level had to cook. I had the 9th graders and we got to make breakfast which meant we had to be up quite early in the morning, earlier than I wanted to get up.
That evening, the students divided into three groups. One group, my group, went out to pick blueberries from the tundra. This picture shows the area we went to pick blueberries. The other two groups cut up fish and learned more about local plants. Our group picked enough blueberries to make four pans of blueberry crumble for a late night snack.
These are two of the pans of the blueberry crumble the kids made. They were a bit tart but I prefer them that way to being over sweet. All of it was eaten so we didn't have any left over.
On Friday, after cleaning and packing things up, the students participated in an eco-challenge beginning with chewing two crackers and then whistling. They had to build a shelter with only a tarp, climb around a rock wall tower, and at the end, they had to start a fire to boil water. The first group getting their water to boil won.
Once the fires were roaring, people cooked the salmon they'd filleted the night before, backed potatoes, and heated corn for a wonderful meal. The potatoes tasted quite good and everyone's fish turned out perfectly cooked.
We finally got back to town around 4:00. I went straight home for a nap. It was fun and I had a chance to get to know the students before I have to start teaching them. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.
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