Beginning in 1999, when Andrea “Finney” Auf der Heyde was the first Teacher on the Trial. There’s been a teacher out on the trail every year since – until this year. Adaptations have become the standard way of life over the past year. Iditarod is no exception and neither is Iditarod EDU.
Jim Deprez, the 23rd Teacher on the Trail, will be connecting with teachers during the race from his classroom. He and his students will be sharing their race experience and daily activities as they follow the race. It’s an opportunity for teachers to see what goes on during the race in the Teacher on the Trail’s classroom, an opportunity that’s never before been possible. Weighing the uncertainties of travel restrictions along the trail, the rerouting of the race and just being generally cautious about long distance travel – not to mention it’s discouraged, Jim has chosen to delay his trail experience until the 50th running of Iditarod in 2022.
Alumni or Teachers FROM the Trail will be contributing to bring teachers and students the flavor and color of the race by posting on the front page of Iditarod EDU. Students are VERY interested in hearing stories from the checkpoints, stories about mushers and stories about hero dogs. That’s the information the alumni will be providing based on their own experiences.
Kelly Villar served on the trail in 2020 just as COVID-19 made it’s way to the United States and into Alaska. Things at the beginning of the race looked very normal – there was a musher banquet with meet and greet and bib draw, a Ceremonial Start with excited Iditariders and thousand of spectators as well as the Restart held in Willow with race fans lining the trail and cheering the mushers on to Nome. Then things began to change. During the race some checkpoints asked specifically that Iditarod stay outside the village. Shaktoolik was one but they created the “remote” checkpoint. There was an old unused house outside of the village. They shoveled the snow out, covered the broken windows, made sure the wood stove was working and even supplied firewood. Nome, being concerned about the number of visitors coming from the outside to view the race, put many precautions in place and mushers departed for home as soon as possible after completing the race. Kelly returned home early too but has many tales from the trail to share.
Middle school literature teacher Brian Hickox uses Jack London’s Call of the Wild as a read for his students. Brian incorporates Iditarod with the study of literature and says it brings stories like Call of the Wild to life for his students. Hickox was on the trail in 2019. Each teacher’s journey is unique. He was in Nome for the finish of the race to see Peter Kaiser earn his first Iditarod title then Brian flew via Iditarod Air Force back out to White Mountain to take in the experience of the final 8-hour required rest. He’ll have unique perspectives to share as the mushers arrive in Skwentna (the 2021 White Mountain).
Heidi Sloan, fifth grade teacher from Virginia, experienced the trail in 2018. That was the year the race returned to the southern route for the first time in five years. People in the southern route communities of Shageluk, Anvik and Grayling were extremely excited to have the race come through their villages after re-routing from Fairbanks in 2015 and 2017. Heidi has first hand experience from her interaction with Anvik elders as to what it means to the people of the southern villages to host the race. Interaction with villagers during the 2021 race will be at a bare minimum making this piece of trail color very enlightening for students.
Eye on the Trail journalist and former Teacher on the Trail from 2006, Terrie Hanke, will also share stories about her trail experiences over the past sixteen years. Terrie is one of the few teachers who visited the Finger Lake and Rainy Pass checkpoints. She has also served on the comms crew at the Skwentna checkpoint for ten years. The 2021 race will pass through each of these checkpoints twice. Terrie will be working from home in 2021, writing for both Eye on the Trail and Iditarod EDU.
Don’t forget about other resources on Iditarod EDU that are available to enrich the Iditarod experience for your class. The K9 reporters will be pawing away at their keyboards – Zuma, Gypsy, Libby, Sanka and Sled Dog Ed will help you and your students understand the race and keep track of what’s going on.
Interim Associate Education Director, Jane Holmes who served as the 2008 Teacher on the Trail will be sharing lesson ideas with Insider subscribers using awesome Insider Video clips shot at checkpoints on the trail. Video clips created by the Insider crew allow students the opportunity to see their favorite mushers on the trail, hear their stories and have a look around the checkpoints. Insider combined with Tracker is the next best thing to being on the trail!
About the time the Iditarod turned 10, Andrea “Finney” Auf der Heyde was looking for a theme to make learning exciting for her first graders. The importance of first grade can’t be over stated – it’s the initiation into life-long learning. That’s when Finney began teaching about Alaska and the Iditarod. She found it to be the best hook ever to get kids enthused about learning. She continued to develop her lessons for the next 15 years. Her passion for Alaska and Iditarod grew stronger each year. In 1998, she felt it was time to present the idea of a teacher going out on the trail and sending messages back to students about all the life skills that were being used by mushers and dogs in achieving their goal of getting to Nome. The Teacher on the Trail would be a direct link between the trail and classrooms around the world and the teacher would create and showcase lessons for teachers to use. Finney says, “It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it!!! It was not an easy task to convince those in charge that this idea was not a lark but had sound educational value for students and teachers.” Finney then served as the first Iditarod Teacher on the Trail in 1999.
Today teachers know the value of using Iditarod as a tool for Education just as Finney did thirty years ago. Everyday they see the motivation and excitement it generates within their students. The Gold Trail Loop for the 2021 Iditarod is new and exciting. The learning experiences brought to teachers from Jim Deprez’s classroom will also be new and exciting. Contributions made by Teacher on the Trail Alumni will be inspiring and informative. Stay tuned and enjoy the great learning adventure of Iditarod XLIX.
