Graduation, Prom, and my Birthday!

     This past Friday we had preschool and high school Graduation, prom, and it was also my 24th birthday! It was a pretty crazy weekend. We had 8 graduates this year, which is a lot for a school that has just over 100 students. Our graduation went just about the same way as any other graduation, but it was probably a little shorter and we had high school and preschool at the same time. We did a lot of the decorating on Thursday night and then put up the finishing touches between graduation and prom.

Filling up the balloon net.

The balloon crew!

Making all the walls look nice.

Everyone working hard to make the gym look great!

And the balloon net is up!

Cue graduation song...

The set up.

Cake!

Our graduates, you did it!

Oh the anticipation is killing the little ones...

There they go.

Brett, our awesome principal!

The guest speaker was a teacher from last year that came back just to speak at graduation.

Congratulations Class of 2015!

     Now time for the fun! Prom in the village is a little different then what most of us are familiar with. Typically, just Juniors and Seniors get to come to prom, you dress up all fancy, get dinner, have the grand march, etc. Here in Eek everyone from 2nd through 12th grade gets to come to prom. Obviously the younger students only get to be there for certain times. Even the community is allowed to come and hang out. We had snack type foods and pizza out to eat during the dance. It was a lot of fun to see all the students dressed up and having some fun! Even the teachers had a great time!

This is a little area where everyone can sit and eat.

The gym is looking fancy!

All the decorations turned out really nice.

The DJ corner.

We had a little limbo competition and the kids loved it!

 Almost all of the kids participated, even high schoolers.

Ashley and I in the photo booth.

Lynn, one of the graduates, and I.

This is the majority of my students, I was able to drag them away from 

the dance floor long enough for a picture.

Just us teachers being goofy!

The aftermath, the picture says it all...

     After graduation was over, Ashley and I went to a throwing party. What is a throwing party you ask? A throwing party is basically where a bunch of people stand outside someone's house and the person who lives there throws a bunch of things to the people to catch and whatever you catch you get to keep. This one was held by one of the graduate's mother. They have throwing parties to celebrate things like graduating, when youngsters catch their first fish, or a first kill on a hunt. They will throw anything from candy, to small household items, and even new honey buckets. It was a great experience and a lot of fun! It can also be just a tad dangerous, I got hit in the forehead with a small candle (haha). You just have to watch out for everything flying through the air!

     I also went to two feasts. I went to one at the house where the throwing party was and then I went to the house of another graduate. They were both great and the food was delicious! I even tried a few new things. I tried some herring eggs and salmon bits soaked in salt and water for a long time (I can't remember the actual name for it). I even got to try some different kinds of akutaq, my favorite was the salmon berry akutaq. It was really cool getting to go to the feasts and it was great to socialize with some of the people that live there.

All and all it was a pretty great day. I had a lot of fun! Enjoy the update!