Blatchley Program
Dear Editor: The school year has begun and it’s wonderful to have students back in our buildings. At Blatchley, we were fortunate to be able to “jump start” academics by offering 42 incoming students in grades 6-8 the opportunity to participate in place-based, experiential learning Aug. 2-13. We wanted to recognize and thank the community partners who made these experiences possible for our students.
• ‘‘Sitka (and the Causeway) During WWII’’: Thank you, Matt Hunter, for providing us with invaluable background knowledge that helped history come alive for our students on this trip. Ben White and Jarret Hirai were incredibly generous with their time (and boats) and ferried us out. Special thanks to AMSEA for providing life vests for our students. We couldn’t have visited the Causeway without you! Thanks to Sitka National Historical Park and Ranger Cinnamon for a wonderful totem talk and film about the history of the park.
• ‘‘Edible Plants of Sitka’’: Thank you, Patty Dick, for sharing your extensive knowledge and creating visual resources that made this excursion a success. For some of our students, this was their first harvest of wild food, but given the level of their enthusiasm, we are sure that it won’t be their last.
• ‘‘Investigating Crabs and Tidepools’’: Thank you to the eternally supportive (and extremely knowledgeable) education department at the Sitka Sound Science Center. We are incredibly fortunate to be able to partner with them during the academic year, and this experience was equally as enriching.
• ‘‘Creating a Wave Energy Generator’’: Thank you to Molly Grear, with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who taught our wave energy lesson. Molly is working with the City of Sitka to plan for our renewable future, and this activity brought this to life for students. A highlight was testing our devices at the harbor and having a giant sea lion swim right below us!!!
• ‘‘Geology and Trees of Sitka’’: Thank you to Brian Buma, the SSSC visiting researcher for August, who taught us about glacial silt, volcanic ash and the formation of the sedimentary rock of our region. TJ Witherspoon and Aaron Prussian from the National Forest Service were wonderful resources who shared their knowledge of increment cores and tree typing.
• ‘‘Celebrating Success’’: Thank you to Jeremy Phillips for providing us with a deer we were able to process on our last day, to Ben White for providing us with an awesome barbecue, and to Ricky Jarvill for opening the pool for our celebration.
None of our activities would have been possible without the transportation provided to our students by Island Bus. Ms. Prewitt and her drivers are simply the best!
Blatchley Middle School teachers
Alex Dailey, Drew Larson,
Laura Rogers and Caitlin Woolsey
New Year
Dear Editor: Finally, The Real New Year Day, September 1!
Begone Summer of 2021. Begone The Virus, The Needles and the “Shots.” Begone the constant Wars, the continuing damage to our shared species. Begone the obsession with that dreadful four letter word “race.” Enough already!
We are One Species. The Human One.
Time now to focus on survival and assessment.
Disasters have a natural sequence called the Disaster Syndrome. I thought we were moving into the “Recovery” period. But then we got zapped by the Delta mutation. And Hurricane Ida. Afghanistan issues again. Floods. Fires. Disasters ad nauseam. Will it ever end?
My personal attempts to try to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life failed. I keep making dumb mistakes. Say things that shock even me. And licked my knife (but not in public – yet). I tried to get a little engaged in Sitka, but found coming out of my personal isolation was a lot more difficult than going into it. Here I am 85 and still alive. And I still don’t know what to do with the rest of whatever life I might have left.
Depression was creeping in, an old familiar feeling. I am well seasoned. How can any half-way sane hominid be aware of what is going on in the world and not be threatened by despair? Who am I to think that with all my white privileges I would be spared?
So, yesterday I returned to a favorite activity: I took a long walk. Around the whole Mosquito Cove trail. And it was absolutely wonderful! Refreshing! So many interesting features to note and relish, slowly. Only one pile of bear dung, several days old.
Today I am content.
My species matter, too. I went alone. The bears have the rest of the island.
Nancy Yaw Davis, Sitka
