Tetlin Gold Project

By Annie Sanford

A recent gold, copper, silver project has arisen in one of the three government recognized Indian reservation areas of Alaska. The Tetlin gold, copper, and silver project, controlled by Contango ORE Inc., began sampling the area of Tetlin in 2009 and discovered significant amounts of gold, copper, and silver in 2012. Contango ORE has decided to hand over the project to a mining company who is more capable in starting a mine. In September 2014, Contango ORE has announced a Master Agreement with Royal Gold Inc. At this time, it's still unclear whether mining is confirmed for the future.  

When asked her opinion on if the mining begins, what do you think of the affects on Tok's economy will be, Michelle James replied,"There would be more people in Tok, and more job opportunities. Everywhere would get more business because more people would more to Tok and Tetlin to work."

This is great news for many residents and businesses of the community. If the project is executed, there would be no doubt that Tok's economy would greatly rise. Many of the small businesses will greatly benefit from the mining with the attraction of new workers and residents. More students would enroll in Tok school rising the demand of staff and school supplies. The sports teams will be able to expand with more players, with the possibility of new sports starting. The spark of this project may give a spurt of life to a seemingly dying community.

From Updating After to Updating Live

By Annie Sanford

Most recently, Tok school has been able to live stream sports games for sports fans all over the Internet. Through Ustream, a company that provides free video streaming services, it makes it possible for viewers anywhere to watch the sports games live. Ustream began with the idea of providing deployed soldiers another means of communication to their loved ones back home. U.S Army Officers John Ham and Brad Hunstable joined with Dr. Gyula Feher to eventually create Ustream in 2006.

Ustream not only provided a way of communicating with deployed soldiers, many people around the
world started frequently using the site. Ustream helps people from politicians, celebrities, to ordinary
citizens with broadcasting many types of videos.

Tok is one in millions of live broadcasters to use the site. "It's cool and I like the fact that my family and friends that can't be here can watch, but I don't like the fact that the people doing the Ustream just
randomly stop moving the camera. But it's a cool thing to do for people who want to watch but can't be
there to watch in person." Said Michelle James when asked her opinion on Ustream and being able to
broadcast sports games.

Thanks to Ustream, fans of traveling sports teams are able to tune in and watch their team play live from the comfort of their own home or anywhere that has wifi. Tok school has been using the site in the last couple of years to broadcast basketball and volleyball games. Can't watch a game live? No problem, after being broadcasted, you should be able to re-watch the video at any time before it gets taken down. This comes in handy for future reference.

Christmas Test

Have You Been Naughty or Nice this Year?

With Christmas coming up, find out if you have ended up on Santa's naughty or nice list.

You find out where your mother has hidden your presents. You _______

A) Open the presents

B) Cry

C) Wait until Christmas

D) Destroy them all

You see a person drop a five dollar bill on the floor. The first thing you do is ______

A) Tell them they dropped the bill

B) Take the bill

C) Rip the bill in half

D) Leave it there


You get home and you realize that you have a lot of homework. You _______

A) Procrastinate until the last minute

B) Ignore it

C) Do it correctly

D) Write random answers

Your friend is struggling to carry all of his books. You _______

A)Ignore him

B)Offer to help him

C)You knock them out of his hands

D) Pat him on the back and tell him to keep it up

It's Christmas Eve, and the cookies you made for Santa are so tempting. You ______

A)Just ignore it and wait

B)Take all of the cookies

C)Throw them at the wall

D)Eat them. No survivors

If you chose 1)C, 2)A,3) C, 4)B, and 5)A, then you will definitely make Santa's Nice list.

If you chose 1)B, 2)B, D, 3) A, 4)D, then you might have slipped by and made it into the nice list.

If you chose 1) A, or C, 2) C, 3) B, D 4) C, A, and 5) B, C, and D, you're going to make the naughty list.

Tok Volleyball Regionals

On December 5th the Tok Wolverines volleyball team traveled down to Glennallen for the Aurora Conference Volleyball Regionals. Their first game they played was against Glennallen. Then they played Kenny Lake and lost unfortunately with scores 19-25, 18-25 and with a mental block in the girls head 12-25. 

Then they dropped to the losers bracket and played Tri-Valley and took the game in 3 sets. After that they were in the championship game, against Kenny Lake. In the first set it was a close game but Kenny Lake ended up taking it. Then in the second set Tok won 25-15. The next set was a battle on the court, the score was always tied up or only one point ahead then once the teams got into the 20s Kenny lake won the set.

Kenny Lake had over half the people in the stands cheering for them and Tok only had a few of the girls parents who showed up. In the 4th set of the 5 both teams were ruthless, giving it there all and never giving up, the want of the win from the Lady Wolverines was indescribable.

Candy Therneau said that she has never seen her team want something so bad. The girls gave it there all and tried their hardest but ended up losing after a huge come back of 20-25.

 It was an emotional game, it was the last highschool volleyball game for Alexa Peet, Annaliese Therneau and Brittney Alsup. All three of our seniors got all tourney and finished great in the season.

 In the end the Tok Wolverines placed 2nd in their region so they are improving from 3rd place last year.

 Next year they are bound to take first with hard work and dedication they can accomplish anything. 

Christmas Tree Lane

It's the day that every class looks foreword to every year! In preparation for Christmas Tree Lane, every class spends large amounts of time to decorate their door. This door decoration has taken a large variety of themes over the year. This year the Freshman class had a Frozen theme, and 11th grade had a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. Other then that, they years Christmas Tree Lane had a surprising lack of any gimmicky doors, with most classes opting for a straightforward and classical take.

This year the winner of Christmas Tree Lane was seventh grade. This wasn't too much of a surprise, since their door had the most decoration pieces and looked very aesthetically pleasing. The use of an actual Christmas tree, though plastic, was also a nice touch. And of course, one can't mention their door without mentioning the miniature tree, completely decorated with projects made by Ms. Bloomquist's students. Along with the very nice wallpaper that they put up, the door was extremely good, and it's easy to see why it was chosen to win. Overall though, it was great Christmas Tree Lane, and I hope that it is even better next year.

High School Basketball Season

By Savannah Arnold

      The high school boys and girls basketball team's season has started. Practice began on the first of December, for the boys it goes from 3:30 to 5:45pm. For the girls team practice begins at 5:45 and goes until 7:30pm.
      The returning players for the two teams are Colton Peet, Roy Eskilida, Antwan Sanford, Brandon Nicolai, Josh Demit, Kody Salinas, Phillip Dale, Daniel Dompierre, Shelby Clark, Kiara Young, Annie Sanford, Michelle James, Katrice Thomas, Annaliese Thurneau, and Brittney Alsup. The boys team consists of Shawn Frank, Kody Salinas, Antwan Sanford, Roy Eskilida, Brandon Nicolai, Josh Demit, Daniel Dompierre, Colton Peet, Phillip Dale, Johnathan Pine, and Robert Deeter. The girls team consists of Kiara Nelson, Jessie Fix-Nelson, Kia Thomas, Marrin Peet, Juan Cook, Shelby Clark, Kiara Young, Annie Sanford, Michelle James, Katrice Thomas, Brittney Alsup, Annaliese Thurneau, and Saphire David.

Tok Rifle Loses to Delta

 By Savannah Arnold
 
   Delta won against the Tok Rifle team. Ariana got a new personal best of 490, Zach and Makinzi finished shooting first. They waited for the others to finish up, then they packed up, ate, and hit the road.
     The roads to and from Delta were snowy and icy. Before leaving to a match the team shoots their air rifle match at home and brings it to the small bore match. But this weekend will be different because it is Thanksgiving. The team will shoot both small bore and air at the Tok range instead of traveling to Lathrop in Fairbanks.

3-on-3 Championship

By Annie Sanford
Teams around the district gathered in Northway, Alaska on November 20, 2014 to participate in the 3-on-3 basketball championship. Set games were played all throughout Thursday afternoon to determine Friday's schedule.

Eagle, Dot Lake, Mentasta, Tetlin, Tok, and Northway middle school and high school teams played 20 minute half-court games with one 30 second time-out.

After a long afternoon of playing and stomaches filled with dinner, all six teams were able to attend a dance Thursday evening.

When asked what she thought of it and how she felt about how her team preformed, Brittney Alsup said,"I thought that the 3 on 3 championship tournament was really fun! I thought my team played really well! Everyone hit some awesome shots. It was also pretty fun to watch the other teams play each other. I had a great time playing!"

Blake Sanford had this to say, "It was very fun and I think my team did great!"

Congratulations to the high school Tok Blue team, Katrice Thomas, Shawn Frank, Colton Peet, and Kia Thomas, for taking first place. The Northway high school team took second place and Mentasta took third place.

Tok Biomass

By Annie Sanford

Biomass

Over the past decade, the community of Tok and the outlying communities have been threatened by wildfires. The Alaska Division of Forestry has worked toward a safer environment by creating a bio-energy project. The project became a reality in 2010.

The dense forests surrounding Tok was made into renewable fuel for the wood chop fired boiler. The boiler is able to heat the school, saving the school thousands of dollars in heating costs.

The 17 foot, 6 foot wide, and 12 foot long boiler is fed by a conveyor belt carrying wood chips that were previously shredded in a Rotochopper grinder. The dense forests were able to be thinned out by the Alaska Division of Forestry specially for the biomass.

The schools maintenance team is responsible for keeping the biomass working smoothly. Thad Tucker takes care of the wood chipping and Randy Warren is the main person that overlooks the running of the biomass.

When asked her opinion about the biomass, Ariana Eschenbacher said, "It doesn't work very well in the winter."

The school is very large and takes a lot of wood chips and time to make sure the whole school warms up.

On the other hand, Jacob Kaus had this to say about the biomass operation,"When it's on it's really hot and I enjoy it."

Thanks to the support of the Division of Forestry, the Tok community, Alaska Gateway School District, the Alaska Energy Authority, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and funds from a 3.2 million dollar state renewable-energy grant and approximately 750,000 dollars from the Alaska Legislature. The biomass is still working today to save the school district money while heating the school.

Egg Drop at Tanacross Airport

By Annie Sanford and Shelby Clark

The fourth grade class and honors cohort journeyed to the Tanacross airport on Monday, October 13 for their egg drop. Monday morning, the classes ventured out to take turns riding in a bush plane to drop their egg.

Excitement and nervousness swirled around the fourth grade and honors cohort class. I acquired the chance to interview Hannah Ekada before it was her turn. I began by asking how she had protected her egg. She responded, "I wrapped it up in tissue and put it in stuffing and cotton balls. Then I put it in the box." When asked how she felt, Hannah replied, "Excited, scared, and a little bit nervous."

The snowy ground was lined with boxes of all different sizes, parachutes, bubble wrap, and tape. Each box was unique to each of it's creators. As the pilot of the bush plane went over the safety information to the class, reality set in to the class and more nervous feelings began to arise.

When the first child, went up in the plane, the eyes of his classmate filled with excitement and curiosity, when he dropped his egg contraption his classmates cheered and shouted words of encouragement to him.

After the plane landed he ran to his contraption and found his egg, had unfortunately cracked, but his water bottle had escaped the treacherous drop unharmed.

What's Cooking?

By John Folan

Throughout the years, we have received food at roughly noon every day. This food has been what kept us going throughout the day, time and time again. But most never ask where this food comes from or why this food is here. This article is being written to fix that misstep that so many students make.

To start with, the menu itself is not made by anyone here at the school, but by officials at the school district. They obtain some of the vegetables from a garden that they possess here on school property, and whatever else they need they get from Tok’s stores or from their distributor in Fairbanks.

The menu needs a certain amount of meat, grain, fruit, and vegetables a week every week of the year. When the menu is decided and the food is obtained, then of course, they have to actually prepare the meal. According to cooks Jennifer James and Rachel Gallen, “We are here 5 ¾  hours a day” working on the cooking and preparing of breakfast and lunch. During this, they go through 150 servings of food, which includes roughly twenty to twenty-five pounds of meat and a similar amount of vegetables.

So when it comes down to it, there is a lot of preparation and work that goes into every meal, enough to cause anyone’s day to become busy. From the menu’s being made with guidelines in mind, to the food being obtained, to the cooking of the food and cleaning of the kitchen, one can easily see how this can take over 5 hours every day. I personally appreciate all of the hard work that they do, and I thank them for all of the delicious meals that they have made for us.

Bring Back GAP?

By Jacob Kaus

GAP used to be an afterschool program that was offered by the school. Many children attended the program daily after school to finish homework and to participate in the engaging and exciting afterschool activities.

"GAP became a household term in our school district," said LeAnn Young, the school's athletic director. Some activities provided by GAP were bicycle club, cheer club, pottery, young naturalists, random acts of kindness (RAK) club, bicycle rodeo, drama, and robotics. "What GAP did was eliminate barriers to participation and organize and advertise all opportunities."

Leanne and many of the students that had participated in GAP activities would love to see it return. "GAP was fun," said junior Annie Sanford. Daniel Dompierre and John Folan also expressed similar feelings.

Sadly, for the moment, the school does not have the funding for such programs. "Going back about 13 years ago, a funding source through a grant was found to finance GAP. Three years ago that funding source was exhausted," said Tok principal Jason Roslansky. "So, a sad fact that occurs when you have limited funds, is programs get cut."

Many of the students hope that GAP can one day be reinstated in Tok School.

Moose Hunting

By Georgia John

The opening date for the 2014 hunting season was September 8 and it ended on September 17th. There was one successful hunt that carried out one, 55 inch antler, moose in the village of Tanacross. Burt Jonathan shot the moose out on a road hunt.

Dollie Jonathan, mother of Burt, helped in preparing for both the trip and the kill.

They started the road hunt at approximately five in the morning and ended around nine in the evening. The supplies included: a gun with a sight, knives, water, game bags, a little hatchet, and a tarp.

It’s a tradition in the Athabascan culture to always observe the surroundings from where the moose was shot, cut the head off of the moose, and face the head towards where you came from. Another common tradition is to cover the eyes with a cloth and to get the family together in order to say a prayer for the animal giving up its life.

When asked her opinion about the whole experience of the hunt, Dollie said, “With our traditions, we cut the moose in a special way in order to show that we can use every bit of the moose that is given to us. Bones, heart, liver, kidneys, etc., everything is used. For many years we have been using our traditional values to take care of the moose.”

When asked for advice, Burt stated, “Sų́'ų nt’eh ts'axdetdîig,” meaning, “don’t be lazy.” You have to put all your effort into everything that the moose had to offer. Do not waste any part of the animal.

My EMT-1 Experience

By Ariana Eschenbacher

From the 8th of October through the 17th I was one of nine students in an EMT-1 class. It was very intense. We went through 30 lessons in seven days and worked on developing skills that would help us in the field. We went through splinting, backboarding, bandaging, and assessments. We even did ATV rescue. The instructor for the EMT-1 class was Paul Berio, an EMT-3.

The program ended on the 18th with our testing day. 

There were lessons on how to treat a medical patient and how to treat a trauma patient. We even went through how to diagnose a person with cardiac trauma and what to do if a diabetic person was acting strangely and what we should do. 

I learned new acronyms, like S.A.M.P.L.E. (Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Pertinent history, Last oral intake, Events leading to the incident). These are things that you would ask a patient. I also learned an acronym called D.C.A.P.B.T.L.S. This stands for Deformities, Contusions, Abrasions, Punctures, Burns, Tenderness, Lacerations, and Swelling. 

This program is beneficial because it teaches skills that may help you save others in an emergency. These skills can also lead to a career in emergency care.

Upcoming Events

Trick Or Treat Street & Halloween Carnival 10/31

Rifle @ Tok 10/31

Spirit Week 11/3 – 7

Monday- PJ Day

Tuesday- Hippie Day

Wednesday- Class Colors

Thursday- Country Day

Friday- Dapper Day

Tok School Accreditation Review 11/3 & 4

AGSD Writing Assessment 11/5 & 6

Sadie Hawkins Dance 11/7

HS Volleyball @ Tok 11/7 & 8

MS Basketball @ Valdez 11/7 & 8

Rifle @ Tok 11/7 & @ Fairbanks 11/8

Spikefest 201

By Shelby Clark

On the 16th of October the high school volleyball team was off on a 1000 mile trip to Ninilchick for the Spikefest tournament and to Nikolaevsk  for a co-ed vollleyball game.

In Nikolaevsk the net was 4 inches higher, making blocking and hitting more difficult for our girls. Our setters quickly adjusted their sets to make it easier for our hitters to get their hits over, though.

On Friday they traveled back to Ninilchick and played Su-Valley, Birchwood and Ninilchick. All the games were close, but they lost to Su-Valley and Birchwood and won against Ninilchick.

Annaliese Thurneau, Brittney Alsup, Michelle James and Hattan Mollnow had some great hits and some great saves. Kiara Young and Alexa Peet had lovely sets and radical serves. Jesse Fix-Nelson, Kiara Nelson, Marrin Peet and Rylee Williamson had some perfect passes too- a great way to start the season. 

The following day the brackets began and Tok’s first game was against Cook Inlet Academy (CIA), which they won victoriously. 

Then they were in the semi-championships and they were up against Birchwood again. Birchwood won the first set and in the next set everyone put up a good effort, in the end making the score 23-25 Birchwood. 

All in all it was a good, exhausting weekend and a great way to start out the 2014 High School Volleyball season.    

Daniel's Book Review

By Daniel Dompierre

The book  Looking For Alaska by John Green is about love, confusion, tragedy, and heartbreak.

During the first chapter, they introduce the main character, Miles, a skinny, white 16 year old boy, who has always faded into the background. After arriving to Culver Creek, the boarding school he's now going to, and saying his final goodbyes to his parents, he arrives at his room, and decides to sleep. Which he instantly regrets, since Alabama's heat is so much different from Florida's heat. After he finishes showering, he meets his roomate, Chip Martin, nicknamed the Colonel, who has memorized all of the countries in alphabetical order. When finished with delivering their furniture to their room, they meet the love interest, Alaska. According to Miles, Alaska is drop-dead gorgeous, insanely beautiful, and, to him, just perfect. That basically sums up the first the chapter.

In this book, there were a lot of pros, and very little cons. John Green has written a multitude of books, many of which are in the same genre, but from this book you can see that even great authors have flaws. A few pros were that it was interesting, there was an abundance of characters, multiple plots, and the perfect amount of love and tragedy.

The cons were that at points in the book, it kind of lulls you to sleep where you have to read the same part over and over. Plus, there were multiple parts where I think the book could be immensely improved, and it feels like a few characters were barely recognized in the story, like they should have been in a few more parts of the book. Overall, this was a very good book, and great for any student from 8th grade on up. Overall, I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

3-on-3 Spreads to Tok Courts

From Northway to Dot Lake, the 3-on-3 basketball tournament has arrived in Tok. Teams from Northway and Dot Lake gathered in the community of Tok to play basketball on Thursday 25.

The first game was played by Tok 1 and Northway 1 at 2:40pm. The last game was played by Tok 1 and Tok 2 at 5:30.

The Tok teams will be traveling to Mentasta next Thursday and the championship games will be held in Northway on November 13.

Tok 2 Plays Dot Lake

Dividends 2014

by Savannah Arnold

Last year, 2013, the permanent fund payout for Alaska residents was only $900. This year, 2014, it has doubled and then some to be $1,884. The official direct deposit date is October 2nd, also on this day the physical checks will be sent in the mail.Many residents from Tok plan to make a trip to Fairbanks or Anchorage and cash their dividends. All the banks in the bigger cities of Alaska will be very busy the day the owners receive their checks. Stores will be buzzing with business, the road from Tok to Fairbanks will be pretty busy as well.Mr. Dexter is planning on buying snow tires and diapers for his upcoming baby boy. Many adults around Tok plan to spend their share on bills. Mrs. Young plans on buying a used snow machine and a canvas painting of Mt. Stanford. Her children's dividends will go straight to a savings account.  Other adults that would like to remain anonymous will be buying birthday gifts and plane tickets for loved ones

Moose Hunting