Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 167
This summer, new schools maintenance director Kevin McCallister, with the help of assistant maintenance director Jason Beaty, is preparing to give the schools a major cleaning and make essential repairs that can’t be done when classes are in session. “Essentially, we’re just going to go through and deep clean everything, and then we’re going to get into some maintenance stuff,” McCallister said. “Being my first year here, I have a list of things to do.” The biggest project he’ll take on this summer will involve cleaning the floors and carpets i...
Varsity softball coach Marsha Ballou said the Wrangell Lady Wolves team was unable to compete in their scheduled games in Juneau this season “due to unforeseen circumstances” beyond their control. She did not elaborate on what forced the team to cancel its Juneau games. The squad’s only game this year was the informal alumni fundraiser April 27 at Volunteer Park. “We deeply regret any disappointment this may cause to our team, supporters and the community,” Ballou said in an email May 28. She said they are committed to overcoming the challenge...
The school board has tabled until next month a proposal to contract for remote counseling services for Wrangell students next year, instead of hiring a full-time counselor to work in the schools. The board voted May 20 to table the motion after hearing concerns from faculty and a board member. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said the decision to contract for a remote K-12 counselor wasn’t an intentional change of direction. “We posted the position and then we looked at the applicants,” he said. “The hiring committee looked at the best all aro...
The Wrangell Athletic Club expects to have raised about $22,000 in donations by the end of June to reimburse the school district, which advanced about $34,000 this past school year to cover the cost of student travel to state competition. Volunteers created the nonprofit organization last year to raise money for state travel after the school board said it could not afford to cover the expenses. Club president Chris Johnson said they will send the district whatever funds it has raised by next month. In her latest financial report to the school...
Wrangell's tortoise and turtle lover is looking for a few good yards for grazing this summer. A few weeks ago, Charity Hommel posted on Facebook that she was looking for residents willing to open their yards to grazing for some of her tortoises, especially her Sulcata tortoise Atlas. Hommel's inquiries were born out of a need to provide more food for the 3-year-old tortoise, who she rescued here in town when Atlas was less than 4 months old. Atlas already weighs 12 pounds and is a little larger...
At age 94, longtime resident Elmer Mork was reunited with an old Army buddy after 71 years with no contact. "He got homesick for (me)," Mork said of his friend Harold Esmailka, age 93. "My little brother." Esmailka's son-in-law, Dale Erickson, had recently gotten a boat in Seattle and wanted to base it in Wrangell. When Erickson found out that one of the town's residents was Esmailka's often-talked-about Army friend, he contacted his father-in-law. Esmailka remembered Erickson's phone call, "He...
A class of fourth graders and a few third graders from Evergreen Elementary School traveled 10 miles by jet boat up the Stikine River to Cottonwood Island on a chilly, rainy May 14 to learn about nature, fishing techniques, wilderness survival and Tlingit culture as part of an annual field trip. Fourth grade science teacher Brian Merritt, who has been the main organizer of the yearly school outing for over two decades, felt this latest excursion was a great success. "Everything went according to...
A retirement potluck party for Sandy Churchill will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Nolan Center. All residents are welcome to attend and bring prepared food or dessert. "Bring a dish to share and a story to tell," Head Start coworker Dawn Welch said. "This party is to celebrate the years and years of Sandy's commitment and dedication to our Head Start program," Welch said earlier this month in a Facebook post about the party. Churchill will step down at the end of the school year...
Students were recognized for their outstanding achievements at the annual academic and scholarship awards ceremony held the afternoon of May 15 at the high school gym. Faculty, staff, community and business leaders gathered to present ninth through 12th graders with certificates, plaques and checks for their accomplishments at the end of the school year. Awards were presented in the areas of general education, shop class, finance, the arts, student government and others. Scholarships presented...
Wrangell High School will hold its graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, May 17, in the high school gym. Principal Jackie Hanson will welcome the 10 seniors and teacher Jack Carney will serve as the commencement speaker. This year's valedictorian and salutatorian had not been announced as of the Sentinel's printing deadline on Monday. Each senior has tickets for 10 friends or family for seats on the gym floor, with overflow space in the bleachers. The ceremony can also be viewed online at...
Alisha Seward is Wrangell's new state wildlife trooper - her fifth move in nine years. Wrangell is one of the smaller posts among the 37 locations staffed by the Alaska wildlife troopers division and she is the only officer in town, with no corresponding state trooper. "Right now, my goal is just to learn my patrol area, which is big and vast," she said. "I just spent the last couple days out on a boat patrol with Chadd (Yoder), who was just here, learning my area and all that encompasses it."...
High schoolers crammed a lot of sightseeing, education and history into this year's Close Up trip to the nation's capital and to its largest city. The students were able to view many of the great landmarks and monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and White House in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island in New York City. Instructors held classes at each location. "The whole 10 days we're gone, it's like a...
A group of high school students who participated in an environmental research program won third place in Southeast competition for their work comparing the amount of microplastics in the water at Wrangell harbors. The science fair, sponsored by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), was held virtually on April 30. The students were presented with awards for their work, including third place overall. The University of Alaska Southeast has been running the Rural Alaska...
A film festival featuring student-created documentaries about different facets of Wrangell life will be held at the Nolan Center at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14. Admission is free. Middle school science teacher Laura Davies said the documentaries were created during the school year after two weeks of intense training with mentors from the nonprofit program See Stories. "(We're) aiming for about 10 (documentaries), but it depends on how many finish their films in time," she said. Based in Juneau,...
The SEARHC community wellness team is using a mobile kitchen to hold classes on healthy cooking in Wrangell and around Southeast. A session is available to the public at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, at the Wrangell Medical Center. Seating is limited. "It was bought to just be another resource to talk about health and wellness," department case manager Kathryn Nuckols said of the mobile kitchen. "A fun way to participate in some education (on healthy eating)." Over the past week, she has hosted...
With some coordinating help from Parks and Recreation, bike mechanic Pat Blair with Wheelhouse Bikes in Petersburg will be in Wrangell Monday through Wednesday, June 3-5. Anyone with a bicycle in need of repair needs to call Blair at 907-772-2453 in advance to schedule an appointment. Bikes should be dropped off before the scheduled time at the community center multipurpose room by entering via the ramp on the north side of the building; using the same entrance for pickup after the work is...
The only member of the Wrangell Swim Club to qualify, senior Jack Roberts competed and set several personal bests at the Alaska Swimming State Championship, a four-day meet held at the Bartlett High School pool in Anchorage on April 25-28. Twenty-two teams from around the state competed in this end-of-season swim club tournament. Roberts swam preliminaries and advanced to the finals in all of his events. In the 50-yard freestyle, he placed fifth with a time of 22.17 seconds. In the 100-yard...
The nondenominational TouchPoint Alaska Ministries has reopened the roller rink on Bennett Street, with the first public skate night set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3. Georgianna and Richard Buhler, of TouchPoint, are focused on seeing how things go the first night, which they are calling "Roll on the Rock," but they hope to eventually have regularly scheduled skate nights every Friday and Saturday. "That's still the plan," Georgianna Buhler said. "Right now, we're starting small."...
Student bands and choirs will present the annual spring concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the high school gym. The event is free but donations are welcome. The concert will feature performances from the high school band, middle school band, jazz band, middle school and high school choir, fifth grade band and honor choir comprised of students from third through fifth grade. “We do a spring concert every year,” said music teacher Tasha Morse, who said the event has been going since long before she arrived. Morse also said musical per...
A free creative writing workshop will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Irene Ingle Public Library. Children's book author and artist Michael Bania will help participants create "micro-stories." "The idea is to get a prompt of some sort, which I'll provide," Bania said. "You have to, in 50 words, tell a story." The author found inspiration for her 50-word story challenge through her membership with the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, a nonprofit organization t...
The U.S. Forest Service is working with the high school tech club on a five-year project to install and operate three cameras to provide livestreaming from the Anan Wildlife Observatory. “The goal is to have more access and be able to share this amazing place with more people,” said Claire Froelich, a conservation education specialist with the Forest Service. Thus far, the plan involves placing cameras at the upper and lower falls, even one underwater, for livestreaming to a display at the observation deck to allow for better monitoring and...
The Wrangell district has hired a new elementary school principal. Jamie Wollman, principal at the Hooper Bay Charter School in the western Alaska coastal community, is moving to Wrangell for the 2024-2025 school year. "I like to go to places that present a different challenge," Wollman said. "I love when people share that want to do exciting things for students." She was hired in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to start up the charter school. It's open to students in grades 4 through 8 in the...
Amid the rigors of state testing and preparations for prom, members of the Wrangell Wolves girls softball team turned out for informal practice after school with head coach Marsha Ballou at the baseball field near Volunteer Park on Thursday, April 18. While softball season officially started for Southeast high schools on March 4, the Wolves won't start their season until May 9-13 when they travel to Juneau for games. They will return to Juneau near the end of May to play regionals. There are no...
Julie Williams will step down as school counselor for the district at the end of the school term, after two years in the job. It's the latest in several recent high-profile turnovers of key school district personnel. Secondary school principal Jackie Hanson announced her decision in February not to renew her contract for the new school year, after one year on the job. She was the district's third middle/high school principal in the past three years. Elementary school principal Ann Hilburn...
The school district is requesting $1.75 million from the borough for the 2024-2025 school year budget, an increase from the $1.6 million contribution of the past two years. Even with the increase, the budget will draw down more than half of the school district’s reserves to balance revenues with expenses. The uncertainty of any increase in state funding is adding to the budget stress at Wrangell schools and districts across the state. The state funding formula has increased little more than a few dollars in the past seven years. The annual b...
