“These are the people from the region. They are committed to home, they are committed to our children, and they work with them every day,” Terri Walker, the superintendent for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, said in an email. Walker said that “the solution to that turnover is to grow our teachers from those born and raised here, who live and breathe the Inupiaq lifestyle every day, to those who will be here long after others have gone.”

“When we have local teachers, it really sends a message to our students that you can do it, you can be just like me. … It gives them confidence,” she said. “Creating this program to help communities recruit locals to become educators in the community — it benefits the family, it benefits the economy, it benefits the village because you create a position for a local and they become successful and it circulates.”