VILONIA Third graders in the School of Technology at Vilonia Primary School, this week, gave bear hugs to a teacher headed for a classroom in a bear populated part of Alaska.
A going away party was held Thursday for 24-year-old Kara Phillips. A recent UCA graduate, Phillips has been student teaching in the third grade classroom alongside seasoned teacher Elizabeth Sowder. Phillips' classroom in August will be a small school in the village of Hooper Bay, Alaska where she will begin her teaching career thousands of miles away from home.
"The only way in and the only way out is by airplane," Phillips offered. "They don't have cars and there are no roads."
There's not much packing to do and there's no hurry to get to Alaska, Phillips said. She has been advised to leave most of her clothing behind and wait until she gets to Anchorage to purchase clothing suitable for the frigid temperatures. And, her housing, provided by the school district, will be ready for her when she arrives.
While she will be a stranger in the area, she has been e-mailing another teacher, who went there when she was in her 20s and continues to be there and now is in her 30s. She has turned to her for advice concerning the transition. The teacher advised her that she shouldn't tax herself about any preparation.
"She told me there's no way to prepare yourself," Phillips said, a grin on her face.
While Phillips doesn't have friends in the village yet, she anticipates it won't take her long to get acquainted. She anticipates she will get along just fine with the village of mostly Native Alaskans.
"I make friends easy," she said. "I'll just treat them nice and they will treat me the same."
Phillips has been reading books and realizes she may be in for some learning experiences along the way.
"That's okay. Not only do I like to teach but I love to learn," she said. "I expect I will be doing a little of both there for quite awhile."
Phillips opted for a teaching career at the suggestion of a special needs person whom she had been tutoring.
"I hadn't really ever thought about teaching. I don't know why. I had been tutoring since I was a little girl," she said. "Then, I was tutoring this boy with special needs and when we finished up the lesson, he said. 'Kara, you'll be a really good teacher someday. That changed my whole life."
One thing led to another and shortly afterward she changed her studies to correspond to a teaching career.
How long does she think she may be teaching in Alaska?
"Oh, forever. I think I will teach for about 20 years and become a U.S. Senator from Alaska," Phillips said.
She knows she will get homesick but plans to take her cat with her. She also plans to visit her parents, who live in Cabot, during the Christmas holidays. She brushes off the thought of getting snowed bound in Alaska.
As far as the Vilonia students, Phillips said, "Yea, it makes me really sad to leave here. I love this school. But, there's a waiting list of people who want to teach here. That's not the case where I'm going."
When asked why she opted for Alaska, she said, "I like the outdoors. I like to fish and I like the cold." Phillips, who signed her contract March 17, concluded by saying, "It really seems like the place for me."
