Students track the Last Great Race
Terry Halifax
Northern News Services
Hay River (Mar 19/01) - Some Hay River students are learning what it takes to drive a dog team across Alaska without leaving their Grade 7 classroom at Diamond Jenness School.
They have tapped in to the Iditarod Webquest -- a project that gives them all the information they need to mush a team in what's billed as the Last Great Race.
The kids will complete a handbook on facts, figures and the history of the Iditarod. Each picked a musher and followed the race by checking their team's progress on the internet.
Education assistants Sharon Gauthier and Joanne Connors said the race is a perfect project to help the kids learn about their Northern neighbours.
"It's part of their social studies curriculum," Connors said.
"They're studying the circumpolar world and Alaska was the last chapter."
The project put the students in the driver's seat. Following the race on the Iditarod website, the students were able to watch through web cams, check results and learn about the people who drive the sleds.
The students will complete the handbooks detailing Alaskan geography, environment and history; gear required by a musher, what makes a good dog team, plus race information and profiles of the mushers.
Connors said this is the first year students have followed the race, but their enthusiasm for the project means it will likely be repeated with next year.
"The kids are keen -- they're coming in and going right up to the board to check their standings; some of them are checking them before they even come to school," Connors said.
Brandon Lafferty, 12, picked the winner from among the 68 mushers who started the race. Doug Swingley of Lincoln, Montana, was first to cross the finish line in Nome last Wednesday morning.
"It was just a lucky pick," Lafferty said. "But I think he's got the best lead dog. He's won three times, he's won over four hundred thousand dollars and he's been in the race 10 times."
The class will celebrate the end of the project with a party.
