As students poured into school Tuesday morning in Haines, familiar faces and some new ones greeted them.
Rachelle Galinski and Sarah Elliott are student-teaching from August until December. Elliott is working at the district under an emergency teaching license, while Galinski will be a long-term substitute teacher until she receives her certification in December. After that, she will transition to a full-time teaching role.
They’re among four new high school teachers, two middle school teachers and one kindergarten teacher in the school district this year. Here’s more on each of them:
Sarah Elliott
High school English teacher
Lizzy Hahn – Is this your first full-time teaching job?
Sarah Elliott: The state of Alaska has an emergency certification for licensing, so I have that. I’m currently student teaching for 15 weeks, that’ll be August through December. So I’m student teaching and teaching then I’ll be done with everything in December and have my official five-year Alaska state license.
What were you doing before?
I worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska for almost 15 years. I launched the school-based program. I just love our school — I love it so much. My kids have gone here; I’ve always supported it. Every time I come in here, I’m like ‘how can I work in this school?’ I started the school-based program so I could selfishly be in the school more with my actual job for Big Brothers Big Sisters. That was pretty exciting. I’m actually still on contract with them four hours a month just to support the existing school-based matches, but I’m not making any more new matches, but that’s what it’s meant for: youth and families in the state of Alaska. I supported Haines, but that was very minimal. It was more like Anchorage, MatSu, Juneau, Fairbanks. I was like a statewide employee with them.
Why’d you choose to come and be a teacher in Haines?
I have children in the school: I have a freshman and a junior. I really enjoyed working for a really flexible nonprofit for a long time where I could take my job with me. I was working from home, and so we’d go on fun trips. Now I’m just locked into the school schedule. I can’t go anywhere in the winter anyway, so I might as well be here and I feel really lucky in Haines because we truly have a community school. Everything happens in school. I’m in here all the time for sports and all the volunteering things as a parent. I’m just like, ‘why don’t I just immerse myself into it?’ I got an online degree through Grand Canyon University out of Phoenix and I went with that program instead of one of the Alaska programs because it’s a [grades]-seven-through-12 humanities degree. What that means is I wasn’t planning on leaving Haines, and so I am qualified to teach middle school language arts, social studies, or history, or high school government or health. My content focus is English, language arts. It’s wide because I wasn’t getting a degree and trying to figure out where I was going to live. I was going to stay here, and I wanted a degree that would make it possible for me to work in this school. I started out in secondary education, health and fitness 20 years ago in college. Then I went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a little bit to get a master’s of education in guidance and counseling so it’s been kind of like a long time coming. But finally, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna do it.’ All my sisters are teachers, I just feel like I was meant to teach, it just took me a lot longer to get here and that’s ok.
I also saw that you want to make literacy more engaging and practical. How are you hoping to do that now that artificial intelligence is becoming such a big thing and kids are on their phones so much more?
We’re really fortunate to be a one-to-one technology school. All the kids get a MacBook, which is just unheard of. But ironically, I want to kind of move away from that a little bit, which is complicated because our kids travel for activities. They’re gone a lot. So it’s finding that balance between that. But I want to do a lot more critical thinking, like reading and then discussing it, because you can’t look up AI when you’re sitting around a classroom discussing a text that you were supposed to read. Every Friday, we’re doing silent sustained reading and that’s something I copied from our principal (Alex Van Wyhe), who was the English teacher for nine years before me. In every English class, we sit down with a book of their choice and they read. And then they write a reflection in the last 15 minutes of the class. I want to challenge them to use AI to find a book. So instead of just picking up a book off the shelf, opening it in the middle and not paying any attention, it’s like what do you like reading? What books have you liked in the past? Using AI as a tool so that you can actually lock into literature.
What are some of the books that you guys are going to be reading this school year?
The freshmen are going to read “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the world literature class is going to read “Book Thief.” The senior English class is going to read “Animal Farm” and that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far.
Is there anything else you want to mention about the upcoming school year?
I hope you feel this when you walk in, it feels really inviting, it [school] feels really welcoming. I think all the teachers are really excited to be back here and all the staff is excited. As a new staff member coming in, it feels very seamless and I think it’s just going to be a good year.
Corrie Stickler
K-12 art
Lizzy Hahn: I read that you have a background in interior design, architecture and construction management. What made you decide to put down the pen and move to the school?
Corrie Stickler: I have three boys in school this year and I was previously on the school board and with just so much turnover and I saw an opening, I saw a need and I thought with my art background and my professional background I would put my hat in the ring and see if I could help out and step in. I’m excited to hopefully make a difference and impart some of my experiences and some of my knowledge.
Are your children in high school?
This [class] is K-12, so my youngest is in kindergarten and then we have a fourth grader and a middle schooler. I do have a niece and nephew that are seniors in high school this year as well.
Do you have a degree in art?
In design, the Art Institute of Portland. The teaching aspect will be a little bit new for me but I’ve substituted. There was a program in Juneau when I worked there where we would go into the classroom as professionals and do a unit… teaching things somewhat related to our profession.
What impact do you think art classes have on students?
I am especially excited about art, one because being creative in the education realm helps open up just all possibilities, imagination, creativity, pushes the limit. My specific thought process is that I just want them to build confidence through trial and error. A lot of times it makes mistakes into masterpieces. We’re all learning and just continue to be creative and have that outlet alongside all the academic work. I think it stretches a different side of our brain.
[You were a student here in Haines] What does it feel like coming back to the classroom?
It was a long time ago, different classroom but same building. Feels great to be back, little surreal. I still have a couple teachers that were actually my teachers in high school in the building. I was learning under Linnus Danner. I’m honored to follow her footsteps.
Rachelle Galinski
Middle school/ high school special education
Lizzy Hahn: How are you feeling for tomorrow?
Rachelle Galinski: I’m actually feeling pretty prepared. I’ve got all my lesson plans ready to go. I know these kids really well. I have worked in the school since 2009. I’ve been a paraeducator all those years. So, I’ve worked kindergarten through 12th grade.
Why did you decide to get this certificate?
There’s a few reasons. I noticed in the last five years or so, this particular position, the grade six to 12 special education teacher position, has had a new teacher every single year. At the end of every one of those years, the teacher would say goodbye and leave. It’s really hard on our kids to go through that much teacher turnover, and I was like why don’t I just get my teaching degree. Because, I’m not going anywhere. I live here, I’ve lived here a long time, I know everybody, I know all the families. Why not? So, I talked to our administration and they were like “you should go for it.” I enrolled in January of 2023; I enrolled in UAS into the special education program and I’ve been working full-time and going to college full-time those last three years, even in the summer. I’ve been doing summer classes too so I could get this degree as expeditiously as possible. The main reason was the kids need some consistency. I’m a little sick to my stomach about the fact that I now have student loans to pay off again but it’s going to work out.
How long does it normally take to get this degree?
It’s a four-year Bachelor of Arts. I had problems with that too because my first college I went to was an unaccredited college. So I had my associate degree in interdisciplinary studies, but they wouldn’t take my credits at [University of Alaska Southeast] because it was unaccredited, so I had to fight for some credit transfer. They ended up accepting 25 of my [general education requirements] credits so that knocked a year off. I’ve been plowing ahead and getting this degree. I’m right on the cusp this year. This first semester, I’ve been hired as a long-term substitute slash doing my student teaching because I’ve done all my classes; all I have left is student teaching. It’s already work I’ve been doing for years, so it’s an easy role for me to fill this semester. Then, I get my diploma in December and then I become a certified teacher from there on out. You can see all my classes I’m teaching. It’s a heavy load, but I can do it.
How many kids do you have on your caseload?
I have 23 [individualized education programs] and six 504 [plans], so I have a caseload of 29 right now. Plus teaching four periods a day.
(A 504 plan outlines student accommodations and allows students with disabilities to have equal access to equal opportunities, according to the United States Department of Education website.)
What is going to be different now that you have this new certificate?
I move out of the classified employee position and then I become a certified employee. It just has to do with the education and schooling. There’s a different pay bracket, there’s a different retirement tier and all that. I’m the teacher of record in these classes that I’m teaching and that is really weird, I’ve just never seen my name officially there.
Michael Babb
Middle school/ high school computers and network coordinator
Lizzy Hahn: I saw that you came to Haines after working in the Philippines for 10 years?
Michael Babb: Almost 10 years, I did come back for a semester to Ohio. The Ohio Department of Education reached out to me and said ‘Hey, we really need your services, please come home.’ I thought I was done, but I did come back to help them out post-pandemic. It was a massive shortage and they were asking everybody.
What brought you to Alaska from the Philippines?
Simple answer: it’s hot in the Philippines, that’s it. I joked around with my wife a lot over the 10 years that when we’re done [with the Philippines], we’re going to Iceland or England or the arctic part of Alaska. We were contemplating where we were going to go and I applied for Northwest Arctic. Alex [Van Wyhe] called me from here, somehow got my resume and did an interview over the phone. The next day I called him back and said, ‘I thought you were from Northwest Arctic, I didn’t apply for Haines, you know just cancel my interview’ because he had set me up with an interview with the district. But he was like ‘well, before you go your way, can I call you tomorrow?’ So [he called me] and told me all about Haines and how beautiful it was. It was all very interesting and I said, no. And I just couldn’t get it out of my mind, it sounded incredible. I had researched extensively education around the United States. There’s a lot of need in Alaska. Something just really touched me and after a couple weeks, I called him back and I sent him an email and I’m like, you know, it’s become my number one choice and I don’t know if it’s still available or not. I’m the technology director, but of course I take that hat off and then I’m a teacher. I love technology, I love teaching, I’m an IT director, I’ve done multiple startups, high-tech startups, where I was a chief technologist and a chief manager. I actually only have a little more of a decade of experience, actual in the classroom, but 40 years of experience in technology. And the farm was a really cool experience.
The farm?
I was on a farm in the Philippines. I did volunteer work, we were on a farm. You ever hear that they just monocrop and monocrop until the land is just dust? Big corporations come in, they’ll put a long lease, they know exactly how much they can get out of that land and then they just use it up. It’s pretty much deadland when they’re done. So, we took a sugarcane farm that had been a rice farm before it was sugarcane, but just wasn’t growing much anymore. We turned it back into a food forest. I was a permaculture systems manager, but not paid, I was a volunteer. I took a lot of money there and built a solar infrastructure, built a water system. I really believed in the project. The goal was to teach people food security.
Was your wife also teaching?
No, my wife is so absolutely happy to be alive and a mother. That’s her aspiration. She’s an incredible mother, and if she wants to spend every minute with my daughter, I’m just tickled pink to see her do that. My daughter is incredible, she’s two. I’m just really enjoying life, and my wife is amazing but yeah she has no desire to work. She did go to school for the culinary arts and her family members have eateries and street food vending. She’s the best cook I’ve ever known. She was thinking about having a booth at the fair, stuff like that.
I take it this is your first time living in Alaska?
First time in Alaska, living and visiting. I spent my high school in Arkansas in a little tiny town. I’ve just always missed that close-knit community of being in a small town. I love getting to know people and everybody knowing everybody. It’s just amazing. A lot different than the city.
Going into the winter, are you feeling prepared?
I’ve never experienced darkness on the scale that we’re going to experience darkness here, but I’ve traveled a lot and I’ve lived in remote places. I’m not afraid of it at all. I don’t know if I’m prepared, but I’m excited about it. Just another thing that I get to experience.
What’s something that you’re really looking forward to teaching this year?
My education at the Ohio State University for licensure was in workforce development for a community. So a lot of career and technology, they really focus on giving the students a pathway that leads them away from rural America. Small towns that implement the old-style [career and technical education] end up draining the skill set from that community and then those communities slowly decline in population. The students go off and they have great careers in cities, but with today, the technology, people can work from anywhere. They can stay right here in Haines. What my excitement is to build a program and it’s over perhaps the next decade, that students become builders, creators, developers and leaders right here in Haines with the most high-tech skill set or whatever skills they want. I’m all about helping the student identify what they’re interested in and helping to empower them to use their interest to serve their community so that they can be productive.
Lincoln Ford
High school science
Lizzy Hahn: Is this your first time working in Alaska?
Lincoln Ford: Yes.
Where did you come from before?
I taught in New Mexico and last year I taught in Japan.
Why did you decide to come to Haines?
I was just looking for schools in Southeast Alaska. Just like nature, climate, small and rural.
Do you have a favorite subject or topic that you like to teach?
Probably chemistry, it’s what I taught most and that’s what my degree was in. That’s the science I like the best. You can do experiments, which is fun. Of all the sciences, you can kind of make it more simple and it’s more easy to understand. Whereas stuff like geology, it’s just a lot of memorizing names of rocks and stuff.
Have you experienced cold temperatures and the darkness before?
Darkness definitely. I grew up in Utah and this will be cooler than there, but I don’t think super significantly. In the zero range is pretty common, I don’t know how much I’ve experienced subzero.