Cheering and chanting filled the Kaktovik gym as the local high school girls' basketball team played against Point Lay late last month. It was the 1A North Slope regional championship, and the Kaktovik Lady Rams were down by a couple of points
Senior Mya Aishanna heard her mom yelling that time was running out.
“That did something to me. That, like – snap, I have five minutes left, I can do this,” she said. “I started making a couple points, and that kind of boosted my other teammates to make their shots.”
The community’s gym and school burned down six years ago. After years of construction, the new gym finally opened in December. The tournament was the first big event held there, with players from six North Slope villages flying in for the competition.
The Lady Rams did not win that game, but they shared a big hug and a good cry afterwards. And Mya says the moment was still special.
“It really felt amazing,” she said. “Our crowd, just hearing them cheer for us, it made me so happy I almost cried again.”
Six years without a gym
The gym was a long time coming for students and their families.
Mya said not having a place to play sports for so long was hard on the volleyball and basketball teams. Students often practiced outside before moving to a temporary tent structure that only sometimes had heat.
“It was kind of difficult because of the polar bears and the wind and the coldness,” she said. “All our players were kind of rusty shooting, because we had nowhere to shoot.”
It’s not clear how many students left Kaktovik’s K-12 Harold Kaveolook School in the years after the fire. But Kaktovik City Mayor Nathan Gordon Jr., who used to coach basketball at the school, said the loss was significant, and he hopes the new facility will help bring some of the students back.
Mya’s brother was one student who left the village, their mother said.
“He missed the gym so much, he moved to Fairbanks to live with my brother,” Stephanie Aishanna said.
She said she couldn’t see her son for months at a time, and couldn’t care for him when he got sick with COVID-19. The family also lost help during subsistence seasons.
“We're a hunting family and we're a whaling family, so it's hard without him here, another provider,” she said.
Not having a gym affected much more than just sports. Stephanie Aishanna said residents used the facility for funerals, Thanksgiving feasts and other gatherings.
“It was the heartbeat of our community, and we totally lost that,” she said.
Her daughter was part of a group of students who advocated for the construction of a new gym. They wrote letters to municipal leadership and held a silent protest during a North Slope Borough Assembly meeting about four years ago, bringing signs that said they needed a place to exercise.
“We just had to act,” Mya said. “Students have to have somewhere to play because it's too dangerous here.”
A new place to practice, celebrate and shelter
Now that the new gym is open, Mya said she already feels the difference. The team can finally practice shooting and work on their endurance.
“That's what kind of let us play a little bit harder,” she said.
The basketball tournament also showed that the new gym is more than a place to practice and play. Over a hundred people took refuge there during a major storm that weekend. On the second night of the games, winds picked up to 60 mph and the snow formed huge drifts.
“Everyone that was there pretty much hunkered down because it was zero visibility outside,” said Phillip Sittichinli, who refereed the tournament. “About 3 in the morning, the wind broke, and all the fans and referees all woke up and walked home.”
Gyms – like other school facilities in Alaska villages – often serve as emergency shelters, said Lou Sanders, a senior superintendent at UIC Construction, who helped build Kaktovik gym.
“That's why the backup generator is there,” he said. “There's a lot of redundancies in place to make sure that this building will stay warm and energized.”
After the games
The gym was just the first part of the project. Sanders said UIC Construction crews have started out building the main school building, attached to the gym. He said it will take them another 18 months to finish. The new facility will have a covered deck and Inupiaq-inspired design elements, like light fixtures in the shape of a whaling boat and murals depicting whales.
Now that the tournament is over — and most of the town has dug out from the snow drifts — the Kaktovik gym is still filled with the sound of laughter and the squeaking of sneakers, from adults and students who go there to play and exercise.
And this spring, Mya’s class will be the first to graduate in the new facility. She said she is happy about it, but also sad that seniors in previous years didn't get that chance. She said her brother, who already graduated in Fairbanks, will be there for her ceremony.
“My mom will make him, no doubt,” she said.
