Ashley Sage received a serendipitous phone call on Valentine’s Day. Her sister Tara Heinrich, who lives in rural New Hampshire, wanted to know if Sage knew Patricia Blank from Haines. “I told her yes, I know Pat,” Sage said. Apparently, Heinrich had received a letter with an insurance payment from Blank directed to Dallas, Texas. Even more coincidentally, Heinrich’s husband and Blank’s late husband share the same first name of Norm. “Texas is not close to New Hampshire,” Sage quipped. It is unknown how the mix-up occurred.
Teri Bastable-Podsiki hosted another three-part glass class this week. Ten people attended, and each student participated in the start-to-finish evolution of raw glass to a mini-landscape or abstract design. “(Each piece is) completely different,” Bastable-Podsiki said. “Some pieces were five layers thick.” Before being fired in the kiln, pieces can be up to 15mm thick, but the firing process flattens the pieces out to 6mm to finish as a pendant or small display piece. Work from previous classes is on display at the First National Bank of Alaska in Haines.
Haines hunters raised their eyebrows this week when they received their Tier II subsistence moose tag results. Although only one member of each household is allowed a tag, a glitch in the computer program resulted in every member of each family getting a tag this year. “It correctly picked the (permit holder),” said Carl Koch, Douglas assistant area wildlife biologist for Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “If you look online now, it has been corrected.”
The Haines Sheldon Museum hosted 94 people for History Day. Lora McCoy, John Carlson, Kelleen Adams, and Sara Delengova judged 27 entries. The winners will go on to the state competition, and state winners will then continue to nationals. “We have a very good record of students going to nationals,” said Helen Alten, museum director. In the category of individual exhibits, Sophia Sutcliffe-Diaz won first place with “Newsies Stop the World!,” Alex Weerasinghe took second place with “Talking to Victory,” and Klover Cinocco took third place with “Newborns Need Help.”
In the category of individual websites, Lucia Chapell won first place with “Getting in the Game,” Emma Dohrn took second place with “Society Remodeled,” and Willa Stuart took third place with “Harnessing the Power of Canines.” In the category of group exhibits, Hayden Jimenez and Dalton Henry took third place with “Unlocking Egypt.” In the category of group websites, Griffin Culbeck and Leo Wald won first place with “Full Throttle for Change,” Trenton Oaks and Marvis Price took second place with “The Ride to Rights,” and Ariel Godinez and Miranda Allen took third place with “Nurses Instead of Housewives.” The projects will be displayed at the museum through Thursday, March 5.
Katie Craney was one of four visual artists to receive the Connie Boochever Artist Fellowship, which carries a prize of $2,500. The purpose of the award is to recognize and support emerging Alaskan artists of exceptional talent. Craney said the award for the visual art category is only given once every four years. “It’s a huge honor,” she said. “It’s validating that the work I’m doing matters in a broader context. It’s the impetus to keep going.” Klara Maisch, a Fairbanks resident and frequent visitor to Haines, also received the award.
Jo Goerner and Benjamin Walter canoed the Monongahela River. They started in the Tygart River in West Virginia, and canoed 60 miles over three days to a take-out in Greensboro, Pennsylvania. A highlight included a night at Prickett’s Fort, which was built in 1774. “It was a nice mellow trip with warm weather,” Goerner said. “Almost 70 degrees one day!”
The Valentine’s Day student government fundraiser raised enough money to completely fund registration costs for the upcoming statewide student government conference at Mount Edgecumbe, a school in Sitka. The fundraiser was spearheaded by the students and included boxes of cupcakes with personalized messages and a rose. “Lydia Andriesen is the president and took lead on organization,” said Alex Van Wyhe, the high school English teacher at the Haines Borough School. Haley and Hannah Boron, Dylan and Sally Chapell, Dori and Avari Getchell, Lydia Andriesen, Brennan Palmieri, and Claire Waldo all worked on preparing cupcakes and frosting from scratch, boxing and wrapping, and creating the personalized notes.