alaska question?

-replied Lewis Telschow

Life was rolling along.  I was counting down the days until graduation and stressing big time about everything that needed to be completed in the short amount of time.

Though I've known about it since oh, say, January of last year, the job fair was suddenly here.  I prepared a sample lesson plan, put together an updated references list, and made many copies of my newly polished resume.  As I made my way into the convention center I was breathing a sigh of relief from a whirlwind morning of getting all the small things put together.  I had a list of ten potential school districts, which I had gleaned from a web search of all the Oregon districts listed in the on-line brochure.  (There were districts from far and wide: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, California, Alaska, and of course Washington.)  I had my mind rooted in Portland was nervous to begin introducing myself.  I started with my top candidate, in retrospect it may have been more wise to warm up a little first.  I began to feel the pressure of having only thirty seconds to interest a potential employer.  It was intense, and the way the rest of the event went.  Ten perspective districts later, I was just getting the hang of the two second meet and greet.

Then, I did something not even I expected, I started talking to Alaskan districts.  The first one was so friendly that I went ahead and talked to another.  That second one intrigued me and suddenly I had an interview scheduled for the next morning.  I went home, a little stunned and floored by even the idea of teaching so far away.  I thought, I'll entertain the idea for a day and be ready to re-focus on local prospects.  Only, that didn't happen.

With amiable personalities and smiles, the district representatives took little time to screen my knowledge of all the important abbreviations and acronyms.  I missed only one, but had already described it to a tee a few minutes earlier.  I just didn't know it had special letters.  And then, he told it to me straight, in his comforting southern drawl.  "We want you.  You're going to come to Alaska."  I was flattered but not at all prepared.  I said I would have to talk with my family and think things over.  We said our good-byes and that was that.

Only, that was not it.  That was the beginning of intense stress and inner turmoil that is still trailing me.  I went back and forth both ways.  I talked to my mother, my brothers, my father, my best friends, God, my cooperating teachers, and my classmates.  Was I ready to leave Rachel, Josh, Eurydice, Portland and this life that I love for an unknown in the middle of nowhere?  Suddenly, I developed that very unusual burping. Wednesday evening I was burping for an hour, that hour turned into days.  I never even put this much thought and consideration into where I went to college, undergrad or graduate.

All along I knew, I knew I needed to do it.  I needed to take the adventure, but moving to bush Alaska is not a decision to be taken lightly.  I scoured the internet.  Researching and reading.  I found a fantastic account of one couple's time spent teaching in the district.  When the images of the openness and the students began to fill the screen I knew I was in.

My pros list was so long, so valid, and so good.  The cons list was short but heavily weighted.  I love this family and this home we share here in Portland.  I stared at the numbers.  I arranged all the facts into tables and forms.  I thought of my students.

Finally, I knew.

I decided and made the phone call.

My anxiety immediately turned into excitement.  I will be teaching 6th grade at Marshall School in a village of 400 people that sits along the Yukon River.

I am very excited, still a bit anxious, still a bit burpy, but that usually is most intense when I start to think about all the things that need to be accomplished in the coming weeks.