The Application for the 2026 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™️ is Here

Jeff Reid takes his Red Lantern from Kate Newmeyer in Nome at the finish of the 2024 Iditarod. Photo: Iditarod Media

The Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^TM program is a unique opportunity for one selected educator to teach beyond the traditional classroom walls via Internet and to be involved in a program that reaches students around the world during a one-year volunteer teaching job. Be a part of this teaching adventure!

Starting in July prior to the race, and at least once a month for the next eleven months, the chosen teacher represents the Iditarod Education Department by creating standards driven lessons. These lessons, posted on the EDU website, must reflect a wide variety of content areas, use research-based techniques and integrate technology for students of all grade levels.

Then, in February, don your extreme weather gear as you brave the arctic elements to continue your work during the Last Great Race®. Spend about 4 weeks during race time in Alaska as a member of Iditarod’s educational team as you visit schools, present programs in the community, and teach from the trail.

Bring the sights, sounds, and race events to classrooms online, linking educators to the race with lessons surrounding a real event, in real-time. Be a part of an academic success story that inspires students to learn and gain skills necessary to help lead them down the trail of reaching their own goals and dreams. You will fly in small bush planes over rugged, yet magnificently beautiful, terrain from checkpoint to checkpoint during the race. As a race volunteer, help where needed in checkpoints you visit as you experience first-hand what goes on behind the scenes during the race; you will use those experiences to craft real-time lesson ideas for educators.  Iditarod is the Last Great Race. It is a vehicle to transport students to academic success.

Are you an educator that weaves the theme of the Iditarod into your required curriculum?  Do you regularly use the Iditarod to engage and inspire your students to reach their learning objectives?  Are you able to create lessons across all academic content areas and grade levels? Do you teach using the Iditarod rather than teach about the Iditarod?

Represent the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and educators everywhere in the teaching adventure of a lifetime. Apply to be the next Iditarod Teacher on the Trail.

Terrie Hanke, 2006 Teacher on the Trail

You have already taken your first steps along an adventure teaching trail by reading this introduction to our program. The trail before you is one filled with hard work but will lead you to an experience that as 2006 Teacher on the Trail, Terrie Hanke said, “Iditarod Teacher on the Trail isn’t a 365-day adventure. It continues for a lifetime.”

Applications are due on or before December 1 of each year.  If December 1 falls on a Sunday, the deadline for applications is Monday, December 2.

Download the Application Here

For more information, contact Linda Fenton at  linda.fenton@iditarod.com.