Cultural traditions have been passed down in Bristol Bay for thousands of years. At Dillingham Elementary, an after-school program is continuing this practice by giving students hands-on lessons and teaching them the meaning behind their heritage.
It’s a sunny January afternoon in Dillingham, and about 30 elementary students, from kindergarten to fifth grade, gather in the cafeteria after school.
Monday through Thursday, students enrolled in the 21st Century Afterschool Program usually play outside, have a snack, and then a lesson. But today is different — it’s the program’s monthly culture lesson.
Last month, students made headdresses from felt and beads and learned the meaning behind including each color and symbol. Today, culture teacher Deanna Baier is teaching them to carve.
Baier explains that hunting tools, fishing tools, bowls, and other necessities were traditionally carved out of materials regionally available, like walrus tusks, teeth, bones, and antlers.
“But after a while our people started getting really creative and thinking, ‘Hey, let’s carve different things, like animals and people,’” said Baier. “And when they carved animals they would use their carvings to help speak to those animal spirits.”
She pulls a palm-sized, elaborately carved figure colored with red, brown, and green details out of her pocket. The class lets out a loud, impressed, exclamation.
Culture lessons are just one part of the after-school program, which the school and the nonprofit Alaska Resource Center, or SERRC, put together last school year.
Five Dillingham Elementary teachers and a lead teacher run the program. SERRC provides curriculum and administrative support remotely.
Four days a week, the teachers spend an hour and 45 minutes after school providing additional instruction on health and movement, STEAM- an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math- social and emotional learning, and literacy.
The program’s 21st Century Community Learning grant is funded through the U.S. Department of Education. At the moment, federally funded programs face uncertainty across the country after Trump ordered a pause on all grant funding, then rescinded the order. SERRC coordinators say they have been directed to proceed as usual, with no foreseeable stoppages.
The program is primarily focused on reading and literacy and on a regular day, the first 20 minutes of the lesson is devoted to phonetics. But, Kirsten McTague and Julie Jessal, SERRC coordinators who were part of the development of the curriculum, say learning to read can’t happen in a vacuum.
“In order for students to be successful in reading or anything else, they have to feel really good about their ability to learn,” said Jessal. “And that comes through a lot of the SEL: social, emotional learning components of the program.”
A 2023 Yale School of Medicine study found that students who participate in social and emotional learning programs have higher academic success, better school attendance, improved self-efficacy and self-esteem, and less anxiety and depression.
Baier’s culture lessons are a form of social and emotional learning. She says they develop healthy identities and self-awareness.
“We use culture in our everyday lives. But I think the cultural activities are very important to teach the kids who they are and who the people are in their community,” said Baier. “I tell the kids, ‘Culture is who you are and where you live and the people around you.’ I think the cultural activities are important to the kids because it connects them to the land and to each other.”
Baier also coordinates the Bristol Bay 4-H program and runs a summer youth culture camp.
Her cultural knowledge has deep roots. She was born and raised in Dillingham and learned to carve in high school at a class taught by the late Sam Fox, a prominent Dillingham artist, the namesake of Dillingham’s Sam Fox Museum, and a recipient of a Governor’s Arts and Humanities Award. Fox died in a car crash in 1983.
“He knew so much about art,” said Baier. “And he didn’t just carve, he instilled a pride and a dedication in his students.”
Now, she’s passing on the pride and dedication to the next generation.
The after-school program students have a choice of either a wolf or a bear figurine made of soapstone to carve. Soapstone was not traditionally carved in this region, but she explains that’s what came in the kid-friendly carving kits
ordered online. It’s soft and easy to work with.
Each workstation has a filer, sandpaper, and a bowl of water to dunk the stone in to control dust.
Fourth grader, Maverick, chose to carve the wolf.
“They’re cool and fast,” said Maverick. “And like, just howling they can attract an entire pack.”
Owen, who’s in third grade, also chose the wolf because he appreciated the animal’s speed. He delicately carves detail into the wolf’s head and tries to match the size of its ears with precise use of his filer.
“I’m working on this part,” said Owen, referencing the space between the wolf’s ears. “This side is a little bigger than that side. That’s why I’m trying to get it more right here, like a little off them.”
But Baier says the imperfections are all part of the art.
The next culture class at the after-school program is “Molly of Denali Musher” on February 27th. The kids will make mushing sleds out of cardboard, just like Molly from the PBS kids’ cartoon.
