Spring

Art Work.

After Graduation

Tonight is graduation for seniors who have taken 4 or 5 years to complete the demands of the school board to walk proudly across the stage and receive that magical paper.  The paper declaring them as high school graduates,  The paper needed for jobs but usually ends up packed away after you get your first post high school job.

Many students struggle in this village to complete high school due to seeing no real value in one.  The job market is very limited out here and for many, you don't need a high school diploma.

If you want to work, you need college credits to work at the school as a paraprofessional.  For certain jobs associated with the tribal or city government you do need more than a high school diploma but for most of the jobs there or at the stores or construction you can usually get hired without a diploma.

Since they don't see any value in education, many students lack the motivation to try, so they don't finish.  Their dropping out is a gradual process where they don't bother working so they fail.  They repeat the same classes and fail again.  By the time they are juniors they are behind enough they will not graduate on time.  Others just slowly quit attending until they are officially dropped from the rolls.

The ones who make it through high school to finally graduate fall into two categories.  There is a small percentage to leave the following fall to attend college but very few of those ever finish their degrees. Most last a year before returning because they lack self motivation or lacked the understanding of how colleges work.

The other group decide they can put off advancing their education or decide they aren't interested in doing much more than remaining home, helping out there, and playing basketball a few times a week.  A few do go on for training but the majority never leave, never try to advance their educations, and never even think in terms of their futures.

I'll go to graduation tonight, take pictures, congratulate everyone, and wish those going off to college the best of luck.  I already know that 3/4ths of those who head off, will return by the end of the school year.

I'll take pictures and post them on Monday so you can see the decorated gym and get a glimpse of life out here.  Have a good weekend.

Th

The Times They Are A Changing.

  Since its the last week of school, I've been showing that great movie Hidden Figures.  I love it because its about three women who were involved in the NASA space program at a time when women, especially African American women, were treated as second and third class citizens.

It is fascinating watching  one of the women train herself to program in Fortran before the computer is up and running.  The mainframe they used is so much slower than today's processors on a cell phone and it used punch cards.  According to someone I know who started working with computers in 1969, the instructions are punched so each card has one line of code.  A whole program could take a couple of boxes.  If you dropped the box, you'd have to check all the code and hope to get them in the same order.

Now we can just type the code in on a screen and voila we are off.  I play with code on my iPad on a regular basis and its so much better because many of the compilers and interpreters automatically give you hints on where the mistake is.  You don't have to spend as many hours debugging as they did them.

Even our calculators have changed.  They used those big mechanical adding machines back then.  I'd never seen one but the person who told me about punch cards said his father (an engineer) had one in his home office.  Now a cheap hand held calculator can do as much or more than those machines.

There was one scene where the lady went to find a book with a certain formula on it?  Today, we'd just power up our cell phones, connect to the internet and find the same equation rather than thumbing through a ton of books.

Our one small cell phone can do so much more than the original mechanical computers, adding machines, and libraries.  All of this and more in a small container.  Yes, things have changed and continue to change so fast.  Faster than most of us can keep up. 

Let me know what you think.  If I think about it too hard, I get awed, so I just accept.

Bird Watching.

  The birds are back in town!  In the fall, they head south to escape the coming cold and ice but once things warm up, the birds return.  At first, only a few fly in but later, we are surrounded by birds.

Sunday, I took a walk out by the sort of frozen rriver and followed it around to the tundra, where I continued on to the old airport.  As I wandered across the tundra, I startled a couple of birds hidden in a cluster of bushes.

The beautiful white birds had been hidden by the snow so I didn't notice them until they launched themselves into the air.  I have no idea what type of bird but it was beautiful.  I love hearing their calls on the wind.

Its interesting where some of these birds travel to when they leave Alaska.  Snow geese spend all summer in the arctic but once temps start dropping they head off to the southern United States.  The American Golden Plover flies from the Arctic all the way down to the southern tip of South America! Imagine flying around 30,000 miles south and then 30,000 miles back every year.  Such a long trip.

The most frequent birds seen around town are various geese, swans, ducks,  and ptarmigans. Most of them are still white or light so they blend in with the small bits of snow.  The name originated in Scotland and comes from the word Tarmarchan.

There is a joke around here concerning ptarmigans.  There is a town named Chicken located about 200 miles east of Fairbanks, near the Canadian Boarder.  It is said they wanted to name their town after the ptarmigan but couldn't spell it so they settled on Chicken.  It started as a gold rush town and is one of the few original towns left. 

The town only has 7 or 10 residents but they do have a general store, cafe, liquor store and a saloon but there is no electricity, no running water, no internet, no mayor.  It does have a public toilet, well outhouse labeled "Chicken Poop".

I've never been there because the gravel road is only passable during the summer and its quite remote.  For its size it does host a nice music festival I'm told.

Yes, I digress, its the time of year when I love going outside to enjoy the fresh air, listen to birds, and just get away.  No matter where I walk, I see or hear birds.  Have a good day.

Graduation Is Rapidly Approaching.

  Graduation for the seniors is set to happen Thursday evening at 7:00 PM.  It is as much an event as the prom was. 

Girls wear their prom dresses under their gowns while the boys wear their suits.  I'll be helping the boys out by making sure their ties are properly tied.

The gym is decorated as beautifully as the cafeteria was for the gym.  In fact, many of the items used at the prom, are recycled for graduation.  Seniors will spend all day Thursday decorating the gym so its perfect for them.  They even put down a walkway of fancy paper so they have a path to follow to the chairs.

Graduation classes are usually in the 12 to 20 range with several who due to earlier choices do not graduate with their classes.  The families will sit up on the bleachers for most of it but as the students march in, people rush down to snap pictures of the graduate.  There is usually a place up front where the student stops to pose for photos before heading for the seating.

After a ceremony with  the speaker, principal, superintendent, and school board members, and being given their awards and diplomas,  the students head out to the cafeteria to form a receiving line where everyone congratulates them on their success.  The night ends with cake and juice for everyone.

The next evening, Friday night, the middle school has their promotion sending them off to high school.  There are no caps or gowns but the students march in along a path in their best clothing with the families again snapping pictures. 

When I came here, they had preschool, kindergarten, 8th grade and High school graduation.  All of these required the use of caps and gowns with some sort of "certificate"  Over the years the first two have been eliminated and the third changed to a promotions.  The administration has tried to get rid of it but there is a lot of resistance because too many of those 8th graders do not finish high school.

I plan to take pictures of graduation and promotion to share with everyone.  Have a good day and enjoy your spring.

Prom Night

  I will preface this by saying I am a lousy photographer when its kind of dark.  I finally found the flash but  it didn't work as well as I'd hoped.  I got some great photos and some lousy photos.  I did not get any of the cafeteria because the lights were extremely low and I couldn't get any that turned out.  The prom had higher prices for those coming in casual than those who came dressed up.  Many of the girls came in casual but changed in the girls bathroom.  Many of the boys didn't know how to tie their ties, so I had the honor of tieing 10 ties.

 The above is the area across from the office designated for photographs.  It actually covers the door to the gym so no one can go in there.  To the left is a hall with the bathrooms and to the right is the cafeteria complete with food table, DJ, and dance space.  Today, the juniors will have to tear it down.

The boys in this picture are all in grades 6 to 8.  Notice three of them have ties and two have suit jackets.  This is a huge event because its the only time any one has the chance to dress formally.  They didn't do much except wander around but they looked so mature.

Some of them have grown 4 to 5 inches over the year.  The young man in the shirt was one of those who shot up.  I believe he is moving up to the high school next year.


The group to the right are the senior boys with their basket ball coach.  some of the young men are not graduating with their class but most are.  They look so mature compared to when they were freshmen.

I taught math to each and every one of them.  The young man in the hat only wears the hat on special occasions.  He is also the one who gets a long clip tie so he doesn't have to figure out how to tie it.

I don't know how many of them are going to college or into the military.  I know some will never leave the village.

The following pictures are of some of the young ladies for whom this is their only formal event of the year.

They buy dresses and shoes from Amazon.  Have friends or family members fix their hair and just come out to have fun.

 These two young ladies and the one above are high school students.  Sometimes they end up borrowing heels that are a bit big.  Some manage not to sound like elephants as they walk around.











This group are all related, sisters or cousins.  They love having pictures taken because they don't get much of a chance.

These three are great friends and decided to rest a moment between dance numbers.  The juniors placed chairs around so people could rest or enjoy a quick chat.










I hope you enjoy this glimpse at an Alaskan Village Prom.