Joe Bifelt
Joe Bifelt saw firsthand how a cultural connection could transform school for young people in his home village of Huslia. A dog mushing program started by his late grandfather, legendary racer , changed his relationship with the high school teachers in his senior year.
Today, Bifelt is a teacher himself. After graduating with an education degree from UAF in 2019, he began working at Ticasuk Brown Elementary School in Fairbanks.
As a young person in Huslia, a village of about 300 people on the Koyukuk River, Bifelt didn色视频下载檛 connect well with his teachers, he said.
But when his grandfather started a program to promote dog mushing among young people, teachers got the local students involved.
色视频下载淏efore that, they were just sort of teaching us about someplace 1,000 miles away and not really connecting it to our culture or who we are. There was just a disconnect,色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淥nce they started taking us to the dog yards and to the elders and showing, basically, respect for our culture, we started respecting them more and paying attention better in class.色视频下载
Bifelt also found he really wanted to mush dogs. So, after his freshman year at UAF, he stayed in Huslia in fall 2014 to help Attla train a team for the World Championships in Anchorage later that winter.
At first, Bifelt said, his friends and family worried he would drop out of school. But he continued to take distance classes. He色视频下载檇 run the dogs in the day with a GoPro camera attached to his chest and review the footage with Attla.
色视频下载淭hen I色视频下载檇 do my homework in the evening,色视频下载 he said.
Bifelt said he hadn色视频下载檛 known about Attla色视频下载檚 sled dog racing record when he was growing up in Huslia. Attla, who mostly lived in Fairbanks until he moved back to his home village late in life, won 10 World Championships and eight North American Championships during a 53-year racing career.
色视频下载淧eople try to be humble and that色视频下载檚 part of our culture,色视频下载 Bifelt said. 色视频下载淪o no one ever talks about Grandpa George being a world champion or anything; he was just Grandpa George.色视频下载
Attla grew ill in December 2014. He died at the 色视频下载 Native Medical Center in Anchorage on Feb. 15, 2015, at age 81.
All that winter, Bifelt continued to train the team, moving first to Fairbanks, then Willow and then Tok to avoid cold weather and keep the dogs in shape.
Warm weather canceled the World Championships, so Bifelt entered the 2015 Open North American in Fairbanks. His team placed 19th among 24.
A on Attla色视频下载檚 life, including the story of Bifelt training and racing the legendary musher色视频下载檚 last team, will in Fairbanks in mid-October.
Bifelt returned to UAF in fall 2015 to continue his education nonstop, taking summer classes and doing research. He and friends would travel to a Yukon River fish camp on summer weekends and hunt moose in the fall 色视频下载 a big part of the reason he chose UAF. 色视频下载淚 could practice subsistence hunting and fishing in summer and on weekends,色视频下载 he said.
In his senior year, Bifelt worked daily at Watershed Charter School, a K-8 school in Fairbanks, while also taking classes. It was a tough schedule.
色视频下载淯AF has a great elementary ed program,色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淚 wasn色视频下载檛 very happy when I had all the work assigned, all the homework, but I色视频下载檓 happy in the aftermath when I色视频下载檓 all prepared, or as prepared as I can be.色视频下载