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This is Lertuli Ian Agaya's first statewide tournament. He's a seventh grader at the Alakanuk school. His principal, Essie Beck, takes his picture as he steps out from behind the spelling bee poster.
Photo by Rhonda McBrid
Yup'ik and Inupiaq spelling bees, like the one held in Anchorage on Sat. April 13, in Anchorage, are a relatively new experience for students. But organizers of this year's statewide Native language spelling bee believe they help to boost reading and writing skills. Literacy is a big challenge for Indigenous languages that a few generations ago were never written, only spoken.
KNBA News
  • The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center has reopened after construction in Connecticut. The museum’s organizers say it uses Westernized museum practices and Indigenizes them.
  • When the Moment Comes is a play that brings light to a dark chapter in history, based on the true story of Baha'is, who were persecuted for their religious beliefs after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. A story that is both haunting and inspiring — that honors the memories of a group of men and women, executed in 1983 after they refused to renounce their faith.
  • Since the last census, the number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have grown in Anchorage — less than 10 percent in 2010 and more than 13 percent in 2022. Organizers of the first AAPI Anchorage Mayoral forum say they want to do away with the stereotype that the AAPI community is a "silent minority."
  • This year the Arctic Winter Games were held in the Ma -Su Valley, the first time this international competition has been in Alaska in a decade. Many call this event, which is held once every two years, the Olympics of the North. Alaska governor Wally Hickel and other Arctic Nation leaders founded the Arctic Winter Games in 1959. They believed that the peoples scattered across the Circumpolar North share a mutual identity — and in the case of large countries like Northern Canada and Alaska, perhaps have more in common with the rest of the Arctic than they do with the rest of their own countries.
  • Get out the Native Vote has worked hard to get more Natives to the polls in both local and national elections. Recently, the non-profit has branched out to 45 schools across Alaska.