2009.08.20: August 20, 2009: Headlines: COS - India: Education: Alaska: Yankton Daily Press: India RPCV Rich Patton recently began his duties as superintendent for the Laurel-Concord school district

Peace Corps Online: Directory: India: Peace Corps India: Peace Corps India: Newest Stories: 2009.08.20: August 20, 2009: Headlines: COS - India: Education: Alaska: Yankton Daily Press: India RPCV Rich Patton recently began his duties as superintendent for the Laurel-Concord school district

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India RPCV Rich Patton recently began his duties as superintendent for the Laurel-Concord school district

India RPCV Rich Patton recently began his duties as superintendent for the Laurel-Concord school district

Patton is no stranger to adventure. He served in the Peace Corps in India in the early 1970s. During that time, he lived in a primitive hut, ate a vegetarian diet, drew water from a well and spoke only Hindi. He also traveled to many parts of the world during that time, including Asia where he met his Thai wife. As far as his education career, Patton said the past 13 years have taught him a tremendous amount about working with the unique culture of Native Alaskans, particularly the Yup'ik Eskimo ethnic group. Patton also learned about covering vast spaces, which makes his new four-school arrangement appear tiny. During his 13 years in Alaska, he served districts in four major regions. The districts ranged from Homer, located on the Kenai Peninsula near Anchorage in the south, to Point Hope north of the Arctic Circle. "One of my school districts would be the fifth-largest state in the nation. They have eight sites serving 2,000 kids," he said. "It was so large, you had to fly. We had small planes, or if you were going to town, you could take medium-sized planes or jets." Crossing a river could be challenging at times, Patton said. "You have only one bridge for a river that runs across much of the length of Alaska," he said. "That would be like having only one bridge over the Missouri River, running from Montana to St. Louis." Showing a scrapbook filled with photos, Patton pointed to a sign that he called "the perfect metaphor" for the Alaskan frontier. The sign advised no travel beyond that point, as the road ended. If travelers proceeded, they were warned to bring survival gear.

India RPCV Rich Patton recently began his duties as superintendent for the Laurel-Concord school district

New Supt. Brings Alaskan Insight

Patton Arrives In NE Neb. From 49th State

BY RANDY DOCKENDORF
randy.dockendorf@yankton.net

Published: Thursday, August 20, 2009 12:26 AM CDT

Caption: Rich Patton, the new superintendent for four northeast Nebraska schools, shows pictures of a teacher (left) and student from his former Alaska district. Patton is now serving the Laurel-Concord, Wynot, Newcastle and Coleridge schools. Photo: (Randy Dockendorf/P&D)

LAUREL, Neb. - Rich Patton can think of a few differences between his old school district and his new home in northeast Nebraska.

"We were like most schools - except we had a whale skeleton in the lobby, the kids worked on the fishing boats in the summer, and our emergency plan included tsunamis, volcanoes and earthquakes," he said in describing his former Alaska school district.

But now, Patton is trading the Alaskan frontier for the Cornhusker State.

Patton recently began his duties as superintendent for the Laurel-Concord school district. In turn, he is contracted for 12 days a month to the Wynot, Newcastle and Coleridge schools as part of their current sharing arrangement.

For Patton, it's been a long journey - 4,000 miles - just to reach his four new schools.

"The trip (from Alaska) took us 9 1/2 long, hard days. It would normally be spread out over two or three weeks," he said. "It's the kind of trip where you should take your time and go through places like Yellowstone and Glacier National Park."

But Patton and his wife weren't taking the scenic route, as he wanted to plunge into his new job. The Pattons enjoyed the last 13 years in Alaska, but they are also anxious to return to Nebraska after a 21-year absence. The couple lived in Columbus, Neb., from 1980-88 while Rich taught at Columbus High School.

With the move to northeast Nebraska, Patton looked forward to his first superintendent job in his 33-year education career. And the couple were also moving closer to family, including their grandchildren.

Patton is no stranger to adventure. He served in the Peace Corps in India in the early 1970s. During that time, he lived in a primitive hut, ate a vegetarian diet, drew water from a well and spoke only Hindi.

He also traveled to many parts of the world during that time, including Asia where he met his Thai wife.

As far as his education career, Patton said the past 13 years have taught him a tremendous amount about working with the unique culture of Native Alaskans, particularly the Yup'ik Eskimo ethnic group.

Patton also learned about covering vast spaces, which makes his new four-school arrangement appear tiny. During his 13 years in Alaska, he served districts in four major regions. The districts ranged from Homer, located on the Kenai Peninsula near Anchorage in the south, to Point Hope north of the Arctic Circle.

"One of my school districts would be the fifth-largest state in the nation. They have eight sites serving 2,000 kids," he said. "It was so large, you had to fly. We had small planes, or if you were going to town, you could take medium-sized planes or jets."

Crossing a river could be challenging at times, Patton said.

"You have only one bridge for a river that runs across much of the length of Alaska," he said. "That would be like having only one bridge over the Missouri River, running from Montana to St. Louis."

Showing a scrapbook filled with photos, Patton pointed to a sign that he called "the perfect metaphor" for the Alaskan frontier. The sign advised no travel beyond that point, as the road ended. If travelers proceeded, they were warned to bring survival gear.

Because Alaska covers such a vast area, the weather ranges from balmy to brutal depending on the location and time of year, Patton said.

"At Homer, we had a warm Japanese current and were by a bay, which made us a banana belt. You still had to dress warm, but it was nice weather. Our average temperature was 15 to 26 degrees in the winter," he said.

"At Fairbanks, they had two to four weeks of 40 degrees below zero. There were four to six weeks where the temperature didn't rise above minus 15 degrees."

While most Alaskans live in modern-style housing, remnants of traditional ways still exist, Patton said.

"They do have igloos, but they are temporary shelters," he said. "Otherwise, they live in fairly similar homes to ours, smaller and often on stilts."

The Native Alaskans used ingenuity to make up for the lack of trees, Patton said. At one old village, subterranean homes were dug two or three feet into the ground. The homes consisted of whale-bone frames covered by sod with tunnels for entrances. The villagers burned whale or seal oil to stay warm.

Amidst such challenging conditions, young Native Alaskans grow up strong and hard working, Patton said. They often spend summers working on fishing boats.

"We had a student named Henry who killed a polar bear during the day and then played basketball the same day. I told him, ‘Henry, I think that's a full day,'" Patton said. "The Yup'ik love basketball, and our team won the state championship one year."

Another former student has achieved worldwide athletic recognition, Patton said.

Tela O'Donnell qualified for U.S. women's wrestling team in the 2004 Olympics, he said. She and the other team members were profiled in a national sporting magazine. The article noted that O'Donnell, who weighed 121 pounds, "once wrestled with 100-pound halibuts on fishing boats in her native Alaska."

Patton recalled fond memories of O'Donnell as a young girl.

"Tela would hang out at my office after school, waiting for her mother to pick her up," he said. "Her mom was a strong woman. She shaved logs and built their log cabin while she was pregnant with Tela."

The Yup'ik culture carries many values that run counter to mainstream America, Patton said.

"The heart and soul of their (Yup'ik) culture includes cooperation, the group and survival, while ours is individuals, accumulation, achievement, acquisition and competition," he said. "They are geared toward their elders, while we are youth based."

The cultural differences are nowhere more apparent than in the approach toward grieving, Patton said.

"The Yup'ik would attend the funeral for an important elder and be gone for a week and a half," he said. "While there were teachers who didn't like it that the students were gone for so long, the Yup'ik looked at it another way. They would say, ‘When you (other cultures) have a very important elder die, you go for an hour (to the funeral), and then you go back to work again.' They just couldn't agree with that."

The Yup'ik also take a much different way of referring to themselves, Patton said.

"When you ask them to introduce themselves, they talk about family as their main source of identification," he said. "With us, we talk about our jobs. We associate ourselves with competition, achievement, individualism and statistics."

The Yup'ik reluctance to stand out as individuals has made it difficult for them to live in the outside world, Patton said.

"We put on a Christmas program, and to get the kids to perform was difficult. They had a hard time giving a speech at graduation," he said. "It's not about ‘you,' it's about the group. They talk about family and respect for elders."

The Yup'ik find it hard to compete, Patton said. They tend to have low test scores because of cultural differences, and they find difficulty living outside their village, he said.

The challenge of the future lies in balancing their traditional values with the demands of the outside world, Patton said.

"It's a huge gulf between their culture and ours," he said.

Living in Alaska taught Patton the importance of having an emergency plan. Those plans included polar bear alerts.

"Polar bears are dangerous. They are big, strong and fast," he said. "When we had polar bear alerts, we would load up the kids on school buses and take them to their homes. Then we would have people patrol the village."

While he intends to remain in touch with his Alaska students, Patton has plunged forward in his new environment.

He has spent the summer getting to know his new northeast Nebraska communities and students. He has made himself highly visible in public. He can be seen biking around town or stopping off at the swimming pool.

Patton has even played music at the summer reading program. He is taking his singing, guitar and blues harmonica to Raziel's restaurant in Vermillion where he performs "blues and brews" from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday.

Patton said he already feels at home in northeast Nebraska, even though his job interview was conducted by Skype and he hadn't visited the area before taking the superintendent position.

"The (Laurel-Concord) board president thanked me for taking a leap of faith and accepting the job without a visit," he said.

"I told him, (my wife and I) know we will like Nebraska. Northeast Nebraska has good people with good values. I have lived in Nebraska before, and now I am close to family again. I feel blessed."




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Headlines: August, 2009; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs; Education; Alaska; Nebraska





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Story Source: Yankton Daily Press

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - India; Education; Alaska

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