My First Challenge as a Finalist

Dear Boys and Girls,

I have so much to tell you already. Yesterday was a big day. I had to complete my first challenge of the week. It began with a scavenger hunt. I was sent out to find and photograph a raven, mukluks, a mode of transportation, and a state symbol of Alaska. Then I had to find people to interview and ask them questions about the state of Alaska. That part of the challenge was fun. It didn't take me long to find all of the things to photograph. As soon as I walked outside I heard the squawking of ravens. They are scavengers and love to look for food in dumpsters. Soon, I found an art gallery called Native Alaskan Arts. Inside, I found a small handmade sled and a pair of mukluks decorated with the state flower of Alaska, the forget-me-not. I also met the business manager of the gallery who was a Native Alaskan. Her name was Carrie Swanson. She told me about her life and family. She grew up in a town called Bethel which is located in the far north of the state. Her family's specialty is making cozy parkas and clothing made of animal furs. She showed me a picture of her whole family dressed in the clothes they made. The next part of the challenge was harder. I had to go to a room and write a story about the scavenge hunt and interview for a new blog. People were talking in the room and I had very little time to write my story and add my pictures. I had a hard time not getting distracted by all the conversation. Having a deadline made me nervous and sometimes I couldn't think of anything to write because I was worried about running out of time. Just when the time was over, I finished. After that, I had to go to a meeting with the other finalists where we were given our next challenge. We had to work together to create a new blog using Wordpress, something none of us had ever done before. We were given a few directions and told it had to be done because it would be the new Iditarod Teacher on the Trail Finalists website. We didn't have to finish it right then, but it had to be done Tuesday night. I'm so proud of how the three of us worked together and created our new blog. I think it is going "live" tomorrow. That means you will be able to view it and read our articles online soon. I will send you the link when the blog is "live" so you can see what we accomplished. It was a lot of work, but we worked as a team and that made all the difference!