Bering Strait School District (BSSD) is a school district in northwestern Alaska, United States, serving approximately 1,700 students in grades K-12 in fifteen isolated villages. All schools in the district serve students of all ages, and most classrooms are multi-age.
The district headquarters are in Unalakleet, Alaska. [1]
The student population is roughly 98% Alaska Native, including Yup'ik, Siberian Yup'ik, and Inupiat. Travel between villages is by air; the nearest road connection to the outside world is almost 300 miles (480 km) east to the district office in Unalakleet.
The communities in the district are traditional Inuit and Yupik villages which rely on subsistence activities such as hunting marine mammals and migratory birds, and gathering berries. Native dance and traditional crafts such as walrus ivory carving are still strong. At least four villages practice traditional whaling. There are few cash economy jobs, and the school is often the largest employer in each village.
Russia is visible from four district schools with the naked eye, most notably from Diomede School located on the island of Little Diomede, where it is only 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the International Date Line.
The route of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race runs through six district villages, where it is a major event. Many current and former Iditarod mushers live in the district, and participate in school activities focusing on the history and cultural traditions of mushing.
"Achieving excellence by nurturing the whole student in a culturally based learning community that is safe and supportive"
"All students are thriving and contributing culturally ~ locally ~ globally"
Nome Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska, mostly overlapping with the Seward Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,046, up from 9,492 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat. Its largest community by far is the city of Nome.
Bethel is a city in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the Kuskokwim River approximately 50 miles (80 km) from where the river discharges into Kuskokwim Bay. It is the largest community in western Alaska and in the Unorganized Borough and the eighth-largest in the state. Bethel has a population of 6,325 as of the 2020 census, up from 6,080 in 2010.
Chefornak is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census its population was 418, up from 394 in 2000.
Shaktoolik is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 251, up from 230 in 2000. Shaktoolik is one of a number of Alaskan communities threatened by erosion and related global warming effects. The community has been relocated twice.
Shishmaref is a city in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland. Shishmaref lies within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The population was 563 at the 2010 census, up from 562 in 2000.
Teller is a city in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 229, a decrease from 268 in 2000.
Unalakleet is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States, in the western part of the state. At the 2010 census the population was 688, down from 747 in 2000. Unalakleet is known in the region and around Alaska for its salmon and king crab harvests; the residents rely for much of their diet on caribou, ptarmigan, oogruk, and various salmon species.
White Mountain is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 190 at the 2010 census, down from 203 in 2000. The city is an Iġaluŋmiut Inupiat village, with historical influences from and relationships with Qawiaraq Inupiat and Golovin and Elim Yup’iks. 86.2% of the population is Alaska Native or part Native. Subsistence activities are prevalent. White Mountain is the only village on the Seward Peninsula located inland, not on the ocean.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 14 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.
The Iñupiat are a group of indigenous Alaskans whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaat, including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. They often claim to be the first people of the Kauwerak.
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, 702 miles (1,130 km) long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area. The Kuskokwim River is the longest river system contained entirely within a single U.S. state.
Norton Sound is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon River delta forms a portion of the south shore and water from the Yukon influences this body of water. It is ice-free from June to October.
The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan native peoples. Its route crossed several mountain ranges and valleys and passed through numerous historical settlements en route from Seward to Nome. The discovery of gold around Nome brought thousands of people over this route beginning in 1908. Roadhouses for people and dog barns sprang up every 20 or so miles. By 1918 World War I and the lack of 'gold fever' resulted in far less travel. The trail might have been forgotten except for the 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome. In one of the final great feats of dog sleds, twenty drivers and teams carried the life-saving serum 674 miles (1,085 km) in 127 hours. Today, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race serves to commemorate the part the trail and its dog sleds played in the development of Alaska, and the route and a series of connecting trails have been designated Iditarod National Historic Trail.
The Unalakleet River in the U.S. state of Alaska flows southwest 90 miles (145 km) from the Kaltag Mountains to near the town of Unalakleet, on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea.
Bering Air is an American airline headquartered in Nome, Alaska, United States. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and charter airline services, as well as air ambulance and helicopter services. Its main base is Nome Airport, with hubs at Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (Kotzebue) and Unalakleet Airport.
The Nome Nugget is a weekly newspaper published on Thursdays in Nome, Alaska, United States and serves the entire Northwest region of Alaska. Additionally, it is printed in Anchorage, Alaska for newsstands and airports. It was awarded best weekly newspaper in all of Alaska in 2012 by the Alaska Press Club, and the Nugget's reporters have won dozens of awards and accolades for their work in recent years. It is an independent newspaper which is currently owned by the Nugget Publishing Corp., owned by Diana Haecker and Nils Hahn. The Nome Nugget is Alaska's oldest newspaper.
The Yupiit or Yupiat, also from the to Bristol Bay as far south as the Alaska Peninsula at Naknek Riverand Egegik Bay. They are also known as Cup'ik by the Chevak Cup'ik-speaking people of Chevak and Cup'ig for the Nunivak Cup'ig-speaking people of Nunivak Island.
Hageland Aviation Services (Defunct) was a regional FAR Part 135 airline based in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It operated as the Ravn Connect component of Ravn Alaska, serving many destinations throughout Alaska.
Shishmaref Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) south of the central business district of Shishmaref, a village in the Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has one asphalt paved runway designated 5/23 and measuring 5,000 x 70 ft.. Shishmaref is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland.
Peter Kaiser is an American dog musher who won the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Kaiser is the first Yup’ik musher and the fifth Alaska Native to win an Iditarod championship. He is from Bethel, Alaska.