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Tribal members of the Wrangell Cooperative Association are eligible to receive funding from another round of COVID-19 federal pandemic relief under the American Rescue Plan Act. The WCA is accepting applications through Dec. 16 to distribute $2,000 per member household to help with things like fuel, groceries and utilities. “Wrangell Cooperative Association realized this can be a tough time of year for people and wanted to offer some assistance to our tribal citizens,” said Esther Reese, WCA tribal administrator. “All WCA members must fill...
Cassady Cowan had a grand plan for her senior project to bring some vibrancy to Wrangell. Although her original plan didn't float, her backup plan bears repeating. When Cowan, 17, was trying to figure out her high school project, her focus was on the killer whale mural on the retaining wall facing the water behind the Stikine Inn. "I was going to make it brighter and make it look newer," she said about the mural. Ultimately, "it would cost too much (because of) the cracked paint. The...
This year could look very different for the Wrangell High School boys basketball team. Already, the team is comprised of anywhere from 17 to 20 players, allowing coaches to modify their training routine. But first, many of their players have to finish wrestling, making it the first challenge the team faces this year. "We have ... kind of a big group that are still wrestling," said head coach Cody Angerman. "The crossover is tough on both (programs). It's tough on the wrestling program because...
Grapplers from all over Southeast traveled to Petersburg over the weekend to compete in the Viking Rumble tournament. Eleven different schools met on the mat, but incomplete round robins made it hard for the Wolves to earn first-place finishes. Wrestlers from Craig, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Mt. Edgecumbe, Sitka, Skagway, Thunder Mountain in Juneau and Wrangell high schools competed in Petersburg across various weight divisions. Katelyn Gillen was the only Wrangell wrestler to pla...
Statewide assessment test scores have been released by the Alaska Department of Education, and the results are not good. In English language arts, 70% of students tested were not proficient. In math, 77% were not proficient. In science, 62% were not proficient. Wrangell’s students fared better than the statewide average, with 62.68% not proficient in English language arts, 65.49% not proficient in math and 48.08% not proficient in science. That’s not necessarily bad news, say Wrangell’s educators. The tests given last spring were the Alask...
Three students traveled to Boise, Idaho, earlier this month for a gathering of young minds that could shape not only their futures but the future of Wrangell and beyond. Members of the Teaching Through Technology Alliance, better known as the T3 Alliance, attended the Energy Summit at Boise State University Nov. 3 - 7, and were tasked with finding an energy-related problem and then working together to come up with innovative solutions. Senior Nikolai Bardin-Siekawitch and juniors Sean McDonald...
The Wrangell School District has taken another step toward curbing harassment by using modern technology. Earlier this month, the district installed the STOPit system on electronic devices to make it easier for students and staff to anonymously report any bullying they may witness. “It’s been in the works for a year now,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. “The Southeast Regional Resource Center in Juneau wrote a grant and included most of the Southeast school districts in the grant. This is an online program with an app, already install...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, thanks to Evergreen Elementary School students. Last Wednesday, students in every grade level had an opportunity to create ornaments for this year's community Christmas tree. All manner of colorful baubles were crafted and made ready to adorn the tree. Teacher Jenn Davies' third grade class was busy the day before Thanksgiving using cellophane to wrap empty and cleaned food containers, such as strawberry packaging, to make ornaments that look like gia...
It’s been seven years since Wrangell had a spring sports offering for high school students. Baseball was canceled in 2015 due to a lack of participation, but now a proposed track program might be in the works. At the Nov. 21 school board meeting, Mason Villarma, the district’s activities director, said a survey was in process to gauge student interest in a modified track program. “It’s just so good for those kids to have some outlet, and you can see the benefit in the classroom,” Villarma told the board. “I would propose track because there see...
From the first-place seed going into regionals to a first-place finish, the Wrangell High School girls volleyball team saw their winning streak interrupted only once in Klawock. The Lady Wolves faced the Craig Panthers twice in the second day of play last Friday after beating host team Klawock the day before in three sets. Craig bested Wrangell in the first match-up after four sets, dashing their hopes of a clean sweep on Friday, but Wrangell rallied and came howling back to win the second...
On Dec. 17, a downtown shop will turn off the open sign for good. Silver Liningz Boutique is closing after nearly six years in business, leaving customers to find their sassy fashions somewhere else. A myriad of reasons led to the decision, said owner Terie Loomis, who will be entering her second retirement. "I've already retired once from corporate America back in 2012. Then we moved here and decided to open the boutique," Loomis said. "I've retired twice now and (my husband is) jealous." Her...
Back in March, I wrote a column about being a converted sports junkie. It detailed my appreciation for high school sports, and I believe it’s what spurred me to get more involved in the community since people still remark on it nearly nine months later. On Nov. 15, the last session was held for the I Toowú Klatseen group. Before the final meeting, a make-up run took place for the kids who had missed the previous week’s 5-kilometer fun run. It was the culmination of around 10 weeks of meetings and practices — and I nearly missed all of it. So...
A tournament that originally pitted the Wrangell High School wrestling squad against Petersburg and Sitka ended with the Wolves grappling the Wolves. Two rounds of wrestling, with a pause for senior appreciation and other accolades, was held last Saturday in the high school gym when competitors from the other schools decided against the trip due to scheduling, illness and other issues. "This is really just so people can see them wrestle," head coach Jack Carney said before the matches. Lucas...
X'atshaawditee Tammi Meissner has found a career that allows her to go home at the end of the day with a full heart. Since June, Meissner has worked for Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska as a community navigator in Wrangell. The position is essentially a reboot of the community liaison program that existed years ago. There are 20 community navigators in communities across Alaska and outside the state in cities such as Seattle and San Francisco. The navigators are there to h...
One of the projects that Marina Backman is most proud of is a tumbler that looks like it's wrapped in the universe. It's indicative of her creative process and her business. Since opening Made in Wrangell, a design studio specializing in signs and other artistic projects, Backman has created mixed-media and vinyl signs for other businesses in town. Her ultimate goal is to be a full-service printshop. Backman currently works out of a small studio attached to a hangar at the airport, and she has t...
Volleyball The Wrangell High School girls volleyball team left on Wednesday for the Southeast regionals in Klawock, having earned the No. 1 seed. The squad beat every team in four days of competition Nov. 5-8 in Skagway, winning 18 out of 20 sets, to win the No. 1 seed going into regionals. The Lady Wolves were supposed to travel to Petersburg last weekend to compete but the trip was canceled due to students being ill, said head coach Alyssa Allen. Wrangell played Metlakatla and Petersburg in...
It's becoming a tradition in communities across the United States, and Wrangell is no exception. Every Thanksgiving Day morning, several hundred thousand walkers and runners across the country brave cold temperatures to race in turkey trots, footraces to help burn lots of calories before lots of calories are consumed. The amount of people can vary. The Buffalo, New York, turkey trot averages about 14,000 participants a year. Run to Feed the Hungry in Sacramento, California, attracts 27,000 per y...
Student involvement is integral to solving the problem of bullying at school. Building a Supportive Environment, a student group better known as BASE, will be a main ingredient toward implementing a bullying prevention program school staff are looking to use. Students who participate in BASE said they're already working to connect with students and to reach out when they believe there might be problems. "My idea is ... having simple acts of kindness or as simple as holding a door open for...
Ander Edens was quite vocal about landing a spot in the state music festival. Literally. The Wrangell High School sophomore submitted a singing audition to the Alaska All-State Music Festival with some uncertainty, but was good enough to land in the top percentage of students who made the cut. Edens is only the fourth student selected from Wrangell in the past 15 years for the state concert, which takes place on Nov. 19 in Anchorage. He's also the only male student selected on the local level...
An art teacher has created art for teachers. Tawney Crowley, the art teacher for Evergreen Elementary School, embarked on a logo design project over the summer for the Alaska Science Teachers Association, incorporating elements that each region of the state is known for. The background of the logo is a silhouette of Alaska overlaid with items like glaciers and salmon in Southeast, volcanoes and a mammoth skull in the Aleutians, the aurora borealis over the northernmost portion of the state, a...
Brother and sister wrestlers Della and Randy Churchill expressed excitement last Friday as the siblings prepared to leave for a meet in Anchorage. That excitement translated to fierce grappling and big wins. The Wrangell High School wrestling squad took on competitors from all over the state at the Anchorage Christian Schools tournament last Friday and Saturday, with seniors Randy Churchill and Ethan Blatchley winning first place in their weight classes. Churchill bested his first three...
Junior Jack Roberts was the lone Wrangell High School swimmer to compete at the state meet in Anchorage over the weekend, coming off a first-place win in regionals. Roberts gave his best effort in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard freestyle, but it wasn’t enough to sink the competition. Roberts came on strong in each heat, powering through each lap. He finished ninth in the 200-yard individual medley preliminaries with a time of 2:06.48. The top eight swimmers advance to finals. In the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries, he finished e...
Name calling. Spreading rumors. Shoving, tripping. Excluding. Those are just a few of the ways bullying can be perpetrated, and staff at Wrangell schools are working to prevent it and the damage and lasting trauma that can stem from it. About 20% of students ages 12 through 18 across the country reported being bullied, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ stopbullying.gov website. Of those students, 56% said they believed the bully “had the ability to influence other students’ perception of them.” Fifty percent...
At first glance, the water therapy class in the Parks and Recreation swimming pool might look like a group of people just standing around in the water. But, like ducks on a pond, there's much more going on beneath the surface. Every joint from head to toe is being exercised during the class, offering a low-impact workout for participants and providing relief from the effects of arthritis. Around 32.5 million adults in the United States suffer from some form of osteoarthritis, the most common...
The wheels on the bus go round and round, but you might not hear them. Wrangell was the only school district in Alaska to be awarded with a $395,000 grant last month to purchase an electric school bus through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. The awards are the first year of a five-year program totaling $5 billion created by the Infrastructure Act signed into law a year ago. John Taylor, co-owner of Taylor Transportation, had been approached by a school bus manufacturer in Anchorage about the grant. Taylor T...
