2014-Winter-DU-Magazine

CATCHING UP WITH
The Last
Frontier:
Alumna Embraces
Life in Rural Alaska
Catching Up With Emily Scott
By Christy Hudson
After graduating from college,
many young professionals move away
from home to begin their careers.
Not many of them, however, are as
adventurous as Emily Scott, E’09, who
left the comforts and familiarity of her
western Pennsylvania home to teach
kindergarten in Kipnuk, Alaska.
Though she had never considered
Emily Scott
living in Alaska, she’s embracing life
in a rural village, where the residents value her role in their
children’s lives, and offer a sense of community and family that
provides a strong support system.
“In Kipnuk, there is just this wide-reaching feeling of
acceptance. They really value education—and the teachers—
and try to incorporate us all into their daily lives,” says Scott.
Scott has been attracted to the teaching profession since
she was barely more than a toddler, stating at her preschool
graduation that she wanted to be a teacher.
“In some ways I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher,”
says Scott. “I changed my mind a lot before I actually decided. I
guess the deciding factor was a personal ‘aha’ moment in high
school, when I felt like I finally understood what we were doing
because of a teacher.”
A village more than 4,000 miles from home was not
on Scott’s initial list of places to begin her career. But,
after speaking with Lower Kuskokwim School District
representatives at the Pittsburgh Education Recruitment
Consortium teacher job fairs she attended, her choice was clear.
Scott is now entering into her third year of teaching at
the Chief Paul Memorial School in Kipnuk. For many of her
students, the primary language is Yup’ik (spoken by the people
of western Alaska and the islands off the coast of Siberia), and
many arrive at school speaking no English.
“The language difference can be difficult,” says Scott. “I
need to help them to understand what it is that I’m looking
for, as well as to understand what it is that they need from
me.”
Her classroom aide helps with translation and the students
typically begin to understand English within the first month.
Aside from any language differences, living in a remote
village presents its own set of difficulties—the only way to
get in or out of Kipnuk is by plane and the simple things most
people take for granted, such as purchasing food staples, can
be a hardship when bad weather strikes the area.
“The stores don’t always have everything you need, such
as fresh fruits and vegetables or eggs,” says Scott. “There’s a
community announcement when they come in and they sell
very quickly.”
Although life can be challenging at times, Scott says
Duquesne taught her to serve her community—whether that
community is her street, her town or someplace new. Scott
strives to live this mission daily through her work in Alaska.
“I feel that I am living the Duquesne mission each day
because I am fully immersed in a culture that is uniquely
different from my own. It relates to the concept of diversity
that was so widely taught throughout my time at Duquesne,”
says Scott.
Recently, the Duquesne community donated baseball
hats to the school. They were customized and then used as a
reward for perfect attendance.
“The students who received the hats for perfect attendance
in a month were allowed to wear the hats on Friday as a way
to encourage the other students to come to school as often as
possible,” says Scott.
Scott says she has given herself five years to decide if she
will continue to live and work in Kipnuk, or return to the
mainland.
“I told my family that I can see myself doing anything for
a year. But two years later, I’m still here, and I will be here for
at least the next three school years,” says Scott. “I don’t believe
that Alaska will be written out of my future any time soon.”
20 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE Winter ‘14