Moose days are coming up on the 10-13th! In the Alaska Gateway School District (AGSD) we have a thing called Moose Days, where the students and staff have days off to go moose hunting, or if they don’t partake in hunting they just have a couple of days off from school.
Subsistence living is a big part of surrounding cultures within Tok, the majority of people partake in hunting and other subsistence lifestyles. Our superintendent, Scott MacManus, has some things to say about moose days. "I think they're a great thing, I think they are a celebration of the culture here in the Upper Tanana," he adds. "I think having them reflects on the way the people live here and it gives us an opportunity to get out and be in the woods".
Our principal, Drew Larrabee, here at Tok School had some thoughts on Moose Days as well. "I think it's a very important aspect of Alaskan Culture, we survive here on subsistence because of the additional cost of groceries and other resources in our region," he adds. " It also helps with attendance because if we didn't take those two days planned into the schedule, we would probably have poor attendance with students anyways."
Emily Nestler is a student-teacher here at Tok School and she is planning on visiting Anchorage with her father for her Moose Days. Emily is from New York, and she says " I had not heard of Moose Days , that was actually my first question when I got the Tok calendar". With our subsistence lifestyle most new teachers, aids, and so on have probably never heard of moose days. Moose Days are frequently seen throughout Alaska but are rarely seen in other states.
Landon Wilson, an 8th grader at Tok School, plans on doing " laundry and stuff". On the other hand, Teagan Champagne plans on going hunting and riding four-wheelers during his time. We at The Wolverine Inside would like to know what our readers are doing for their Moose Days. No matter what you chose on spending your weekend doing, we hope you have fun!