First off, I was impressed by the surprisingly modern accommodations; not just ours but for the entire community. I had thoughts of 'honey buckets' and outhouses (which aren't uncommon in Fairbanks), but here, 300 miles off the road system, existed a well organized cluster of very nice homes. Each house was linked to the community electric, water, and sewer lines in a sort of communistic equality.
In the mornings I really got a kick out of peering out of our classroom window to see who had arrived by the number of sno-gos and wheelers parked out front the school. A faithful friend sat outside this morning waiting patiently for their student.
One thing I will not miss is the high-priced cereal which almost caused me to go through withdrawals as my cereal addiction was tested. 
One expectation that I had prior to visiting Noorvik (whether I wanted it or not- but based on past experiences from other village schools outside Alaska -which I made a point not to share with anyone) was that the students may not be motivated to do anything after high school, or worse that they would not be motivated enough to even finish high school. -I am so glad that feeling is gone completely!
The students I met quickly set my mind at ease. These students were ambitious and thoughtful. You could tell from their actions and goals that they were going to make something of themselves and, most importantly, did not want to become a statistic which impressed me to no end. Many students had plans for after school. One senior was going to a university in Arizona to get certified as a elementary school teacher and eventually coming back home to teach. Another was going to UAS in Juneau, a couple were headed to trade schools in Anchorage and Kotz, and a few were leaving this week to check out a few universities in the lower 48. One senior replied, when asked what he was going to do in the fall, that he was going to UAF but hadn't picked a major. He seemed embarrassed at his indecision, but I assured him he'd figure it out as I reflected back to my 'undeclared' label from my first year at LSSU. It was also great to see how jealous the younger students were as they watched the seniors creating their graduation announcements at the back of class.
I left Noorvik quite sad which surprised me. When my roommate took me grocery shopping back in Fairbanks, I annoyed him to no end with comments like ; "In Noorvik we walked everywhere", "In Noorvik the clocks were never correct because we were so far north", "When I was in Noorvik people actually smiled at you on the street", and "In Noorvik we didn't waste time picking from 200 spaghetti sauces, because there was only one choice".
By far the best part of my Noorvik experience was the interactions with the locals; the students, the teachers, the staff, the community members we met at the Community Center, and of course the friendly fluffy canines. 
the sunsets weren't bad either.....
The spit of land 
We chose to explore the town as we waited for our 
Walking through rows of houses we 
Eventually we made it to the 
Looking north we could see the mountains off in 
The drifts were impressive and we were thankful 
Finding a general store (white: 
Beef tongue was even readily 
Good Bye Northwest Arctic!
We passed over the dump (pictured below) which is about a mile from the airport outside town. 
We were off to Kiana, about 20 miles east of here. We flew along the Kobuk River which, as we neared Kiana closed in on the Mountains. 
In Kiana we dropped off a few packages and picked up a few passengers. People were quite friendly as they helped unload the boxes. 
Kiana is about half the size of Noorvik- we were wondering what Lena & Tim were up to in Kiana as we waited on the well scraped runway admiring the other small aircraft parked on the edge.
From the plane we could see moose all over- some following the river and the sno-go tracks, other bedded down.
You could also see tracks converging in areas- usually in the middle of lakes. 
The pilot noticed my camera and said he spotted caribou on some of the hills the other day- so he circled around and buzzed a few of the treeless tops but no luck; many tracks though- "must have grew wings" he said as we straightened our flight path toward Kotz.
The land flattened as we left the hills for the coastal plain.
It would be one thing if they were just off by an hour or two, but sometimes their off by odd minutes- and every clock is different so there is no way of knowing which one is right or how far off from correct they actually are. Many classes had a separate clock hung adjacent to the
With the start of school at 9am the high schoolers met with the Mac Book representatives to get better acquainted with their new machines. I sat in on the high school Inupiat class which was acting like a catch for the middle school students who were not old enough to get the computers so not everyone in the class today was usually in the class. This guy was busy trying to complete his bunny mittens and they were almost done. He was so proud of them with good reason.
Most kids had work to do from other classes, but some girls were more interested in my camera and why I was there.
They eventually took control of it and turned it on me in a sort of interrogation style questioning.
In the Inupiaq room I came across the Pledge of Allegiance the students are taught throughout their schooling. We even had the opportunity to hear it read by the second grade class later that day during the assembly.
I spent some time helping kids with silent letters for a bit in the elementary school wing. These students were charmers; they would swarm you at lunch and outside after school they would call us out by name to see where we were going and what we were up to. It was great.
Later that evening high schoolers and parents met back again at the school for the much anticipated 'Roll-out'. High school students would each be given a Mac Book computer to borrow for the rest of the school year and next year; one they could take home to work on their assignments and hopefully research future careers and bring economic benefit to their community- or so the advertisement read.
White boxes lined the cafeteria as students patiently listened to whatever was required of them-anything for a new computer!
Video clips were shown of other villages already using the technology to their benefit. It was actually a very nice presentation and pleasing to see the videos were filmed in the northwest arctic so both students and parents could relate.
The air up here is so cold and dry this method actually works quite well. You're just missing that downy-soft feeling.
New homes were being built at the south end of town. All the houses are very close together to benefit from the community sewer and water lines. Noorvik is one of only two villages that utilizes a unique vacuum sewer system. Most everyone is linked to this system and enjoys the benefits of indoor toilets and showers as well as laundry facilities. Many other villages are still using the traditional 'honey-bucket' system with a garbage bag in a 5 gallon pail, so I was pleasantly surprised with the luxuries Noorvik had to offer.
The foothills of the Brooks Range to the North rise past the Kobuk River as high schoolers buzzz us on their sno-gos, waving as they go.
At one time, according to Gordon the man with a thousand jobs at the school, Noorvik was much larger when the caribou were more plentiful.
The sun sets to the northwest across the Kobuk River on our last night in Noorvik.
