Koyuk School Blog

The Black & Gold Dual Meet!

The Black and Gold Dual Meet in Koyuk was very exciting for the wrestlers and the audience that was watching them. First of all the dual meet was where one big group of people split up into two groups. One was the black team and the other was gold. They wrestled against each other to see which group would win.

The Dual Meet was with other sites in the BSSD region such as; Shishmaref, Gambell, Elim, Brevig Mission, Shaktoolik, and Koyuk. One of the matches that was exciting for us was Elena from Gambell vs. Anthoni Jr. from Koyuk. It was exciting to watch because it was a close match, and everybody was cheering for both of them and you can see how hard they were trying. At the end of their interesting match Anthoni Jr. won. The rest of everyone’s matches were thrilling to watch also as everybody in the crowd was cheering for them. Then after all the matches were done, we would see if either the Black or Gold Team won. It turned out that both teams tied with 56 points!

This is the first time there has been a dual meet in Koyuk and it was a great success!

-Jeanae D.

Halloween is one of the most exciting holidays for students and others! Here at the Koyuk Malimuit School, students, parents, and Koyuk Residents gathered in the gym at 1:30pm for the Halloween Parade. The Halloween Parade started off with the newborn babies and ended with the adults. Everyone that attended had a good time and a few laughs. Thank you to the IRA and Beda Prentice, they gave out prizes to the first, second, and third place winners. After the parade was all done, most students waited for a chance at the piniats, which was available for K-12th grade. When, that was over, most of the kids got to have free time or watch a movie. Others had a class party! By the time it was over, school was out!

How To Set A Fishing Net

Koyuk Alaska is a very beautiful town during the hot summer days. Around the month of May the sun starts to stay up all day. The Koyuk River is full of fish by June.  Everyone is out fishing with his or her boats and fishing nets. The fish travel with the tides morning and night. Usually it takes about two or three people to set the fishing net. The fishing net is from fifty to hundred feet long. Every fishing net has a different size mesh depending on what kind of fish you are fishing for. The most common mesh size around here in Koyuk is an inch and a quarter square cube.

Setting the nets, you will have to have your net organized in your boat. You have to make sure you have two anchors on each side of the net. Tie the end of the net so it connects to the anchor. Do this for both ends of the net. The anchor will hold the net in place in the river. The first anchor will be on the shore of the beach into the ground. Then we back up our boats so the net will drag out of the boat, setting itself into the river. There will be the float line on top and the lead line on the bottom. The float line helps keep the top of net the floating while the lead line sinks the net. This process allows the net to stretch wide from the top of the water, to the bottom catching the fish swimming by. When your net is all the way into the river the second anchor will be set out in the river. You will want to make sure that when your setting your net, the net is straight out from the beach.  Also, your net will catch fish better if the net is nice and tight straight.

After you are done setting your fishing net, pull up the the bank and sit and watch the fish try to fight their way out of the net.  Watch your float line on top of the water, and check if they are sinking. If they start to sink that means the fish is weighing down the net, and it’s time to check the net. You can start from any side of the end of the net. When you get to the net you will want to grab the float line and the lead line. The make your boat vertical with the net. Then stretch the float line and lead line apart from each other. Now at the same time you and your partner will pull the net at the same time., in the same direction. As you pull the net watch the water for fish caught in the net. As each fish makes its way into the boat, stop the boat an pull each fish out of the mesh. Now not every fish will be caught pretty good, so for a first time fishermen will probably take there time,  taking their fish out. Keep doing this process throughout the whole net until you have nothing to check anymore. Remember that you don’t have to pull out any of your anchor, until you have enough fish you need.

To pull the net, drive your boat out to the anchor that is in the river. When you have arrived to the anchor, grab the float line and pull the anchor. This is where you need three people to work together. One person will be driving the boat very slowly, while the other two crew members will pull both ends of the net. One will pull the float line and the other will pull the lead line in at the same time. As you pull in the net you will want to stack the net in one big section of the boat, make sure that the net wont get tangled up, so when you want to set your net out the next time. That’s why keeping your net organized is a very good idea, or else you will have some problems with the net being tangled. Then make your way to the beach collecting all of your net, until you reach your last anchor. This is how we survive throughout the whole year. I think it is all worth the work you put into your fish.

-Josh D

On the 27th of October on Thursday, these wrestlers: Anthoni, Renee, Maxine, Amy, Jared, and Robert, with the help of Joel and Emily went to Anchorage. We stayed at Springhill Suites for the first night, Lake Lucille Inn the second, and the last two, we stayed at Springhill Suites. We rented a van for the whole trip; we took it to Palmer, Wasilla, and Anchorage. It was white and it could hold twelve people. First, we got the van and drove to our hotel. After that, we swam for about 30 minutes, and went to eat at T.G.I Fridays and went back to the hotel and swam for about an hour. After that, we went across the parking lot to Century Sixteen to watch Paranormal Activity 3. We went to our hotel and slept. We got up 6:30am to drive to Palmer for the Camp of Champions clinic. It started at 8:30 and ended at 4:30, but the KKA team went about ten minutes earlier because we drove back to Anchorage. On the way, Jared saw a female moose behind the fence, and made every one jump up to see it. We went back to Springhill Suites and checked back in for the remaining two nights. After that, we went to the Sullivan Arena to watch the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Golden Gophers won, UAA 1, Golden Gophers 3. After that, we went back to the hotel and showered, and ate at Red Robin. Later that night, we went back to our hotel to sleep. We woke up around nine and went to the Anchorage Museum for a couple of hours, it was lunchtime to we went to eat at a McDonalds. After that we went back to our hotel and packed up. We checked out of our hotel at approximately at 10. We had to wait about seven hours waiting for the plane to fix their maintenance problem. Finally about three or four they called for another jet. We took off about 5 and reached Unalakleet about 6. Right after we get our baggage, we hopped on BSSD and reached Koyuk around seven or eight. The Koyuk Malimiut wrestlers are going to show off their skills to other sites around the Bering Strait, at the Koyuk Black and Gold meet and clinic on the 18-20th of November.

Winter subsistence

In the winter people from Koyuk, Alaska go ice fishing, caribou hunting and moose hunting. When the ice freezes up, and is safe enough we go dig a hole in the ice where ever we want. After digging the hole we clean any of the ice out of the hole. Then when we are finished with cleaning it out we fish for smelts, tomcods, pike, and other kinds of fish. While we fish we have patients. It may take a while for the fish to bite the fish hook. So to make things go faster we jig the fish stick. For the fish stick we use a piece of wood, put a lot of string on it, then we tie a hook onto the end of the string. You have to make sure you have the right kinds of clothing so you don’t get COLD! So the right clothes to wear are: A  warm jacket, snow pants, warm boots, warm socks, hat, scarf, and mittens ( gloves). Ice fishing is a great hobby to start. There is even a contest for how much fish the people can get in a few amount of time. Ice fishing is easy to learn for a lot of people. All you have to do is dig a hole, have a lot of patients and get as many fish as you can. With the fish we ketch you can cook them, bake them, fry them, and dry them for any meal. Thank you for reading winter subsistence ( ice fishing.)

The Eskimo dance group got invited to the Teller Eskimo Dance Festival. On the flight for the dance group their was Aaron, Fannie, Heather, Ashley, Alexandria, Tara, Harald, Hilda, and William. We took off from Koyuk, Alaska about 10:25 in the morning, we arrived in Nome about 11: 35. We stopped at the AC.  Then at about 12:30 – 1:00 we went to Milano’s to eat. After we got done eating the vans were ready and loaded. The next thing we knew the vans hit the road. It took about 3 and half hours. Right when everyone arrived the Koyuk and Golovin dancers went to the cafeteria to eat. The next day around seven or eight the dancing began! It was amazing to watch the very experienced and awesome dancers! First were the Teller dancers. The drummers drummed nice and loud, they had very Eskimo styled drums. Then were the Golovin dancers, their drums had drawings of seals and all sorts of animals. After the Golovin dancers were the King Islanders. They had really neat dances. Then came us, at first the dancers from Koyuk felt really nervous because it was a huge crowd (that’s not what we’re used to.) The next day it was the same order, our group did a little better. Then the last day the Teller school was being used for learning how to drum, sing, dance, and carve, also how to make hats and other things. Our group was really fascinated at how much these other people enjoyed singing and dancing the beat of our ancestors. I really had a good time. It was really great to watch experienced dancers really dance!! It was like watching our ancestors again, from the way they drummed and to the way the people really danced and made fluent motions to the beat.

XC State Running

Cross Country Running is a competitive sport. People who practice make it to the top. Six people made it to state championships from Bering Strait: Vincent T., Asa B., Jessie A., Laurel K., Brianna N., and Dominic R. All six runners did a very good job in the last running race of the year! There were a lot of serious runners that they went up against. Some of their competitors were already very familiar with this sport. These six State Qualifiers were able to do their best running against “professionals.” Because they experienced the tough competition these runners will be prepared for next year’s State Running Race. The course was 3.1 miles, also known as 5k. There a little more than 3 hills, and it seems so long! The BSSD chaperones were Clint Schultz and Erika Schneider. While these runners were in Anchorage, they also went to Walmart, 5th Avenue Mall, Century 16, Mooses Tooth, Kaladi Brothers, Title Wave Books, and  Golden Corral! ! This trip was amazing, everybody enjoyed it.

Thanks to BSSD!

Sincerely,

State Qualifiers

On September 26 cheerleading started!  So far the cheerleaders are doing great.  They start practice at 3:30-5:00.  When they practice they stretch from 3:30 to 4:00.  After that they will practice some cheers and work on their routine for the big day!

The big day is November 1^st through the 3^rd.   That’s when they compete other teams and represent our school.  There will be 8 people going, 7 cheerleaders, and one alternate.  This year they are ordering new uniforms, shoes, etc.

This year’s cheerleaders are Amanda, Alex, Alison, Ashley, Anna, Melissa, Emma, Brittany, Angel, Caitlyn, and Kalyn. Tryouts will be Thursday this week (October 15, 2011) for the permanent team.  Good luck to you all!

-Amanda

Spaghetti Dinner + Open House

Everyone here in the village was invited to the school for a spaghetti dinner and open house at the school on October 7^th 2011.  Anyone was welcome to come to the school for the dinner and open house. They got to see and feel what is being taught in the Koyuk Malimuit School. I happened to attend the open house and saw quite a bit of people. A person that I saw was Melton Hoogendorn, it seemed that he was having a good time. I thought and felt everyone that went, had a good time.

Here are some pictures that looked like they had a good time.

-Zach O.

On September 26,2011 a new season of wrestling has started. Joel Greweck is the big bad wrestling coach. Wrestling practice is from 3:30pm to 5pm. There is 30 wrestling students, 10 being high school and 20 elementary/junior high.  Joel’s goal for this wrestling season is not to win matches, or even championships, but it is to build a stronger character and a better work ethic. It is to create students who are mentally tough and prepared to succeed at any challenge life throws their way.  The Koyuk wrestlers will be attending the ACS tournament on the 27^th of October and will come back on the 31^st . During the time they’re in Anchorage they will also be attending the Camp Of Champions in Palmer. The Junior High and elementary tourney is in Unalakeet  is on the 8^th of November to the 10^th.  November 18^th threw the 20^th Koyuk will be hosting  a wrestling clinic. The Koyuk high schoolers will be heading to Nome for Regionals on the 2^nd to the 4^th of December. Then the State Wrestling tournament will be on December 8^th to the 10^th.

Josh D.