Deja vu on the Tundra: Sign Building 101

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Joann A. Alexie Memorial School was a building without a name. Early on there was discussion of Bruce making the letters in Oregon and sending them up. As time went by, there was an opportunity for a high school project in Bethel where students would design and cut out letters in their shop. That fell through.

Bruce approached the administrator with an idea and she went for it. The project began, not without incident....

Dust collector-brownie box and heater

A snowmobile trip into Bethel began about 4 in the afternoon, nice day for a ride. The weather had warmed up and much of the snow and ice had melted from Bethel's roads. Taking a sled with skags (metal runners) was tough. Materials were purchased and after a quick run for groceries Bruce found himself in a tough spot. Getting out of Bethel by snowmobile AND sled can be a navigational nightmare. He got himself going the wrong direction in deep snow and had to unhitch and turn himself around. By the time he got back to a place that was familiar it was dark and sled was too heavy to go across the road without snow.

I got a phone call about 10 saying he was still there and we thought it best he overnight at a friend's home. Problem was they needed to get to him in order to unload the sled (concerned about paint freezing). So, phone calls were made and no one was home....

I just happened to run into another teacher who asked it Bruce had made it back. Nope, I said. He called Bruce and left within the half hour to run to Bethel to get him back. He likes to do that kind of thing, lucky for us! So, about 1 AM, when I thought it was about time to start worrying, I heard the machines. In PJ's I started to unload the sled of three sheets of plywood, boxes of hardware, five gallons of paint, and two boxes of food. Bruce was cold and tired, Tim looked invigorated, and I just wanted to go to bed.

Paper towel on back

The house began to resemble Sled Building 101. We had plywood in the hallways, saws in the living room, shop-vac ready.

Plywood backing was primed and painted green as Atmautluak Falcon colors are green, white and gold.

The letter cutting begins in B's "shop" (all 45 of them!)

Note tin can lighting and the dust collector out of the granola bar box....

Filling in the holes....

Offering moral support and eventually priming letters


The welcoming committee

The best part was asking the younger students to help sand the letters. The Kindergartners, first, second, third, and some fourth graders all got in on the project. They all took it very seriously. I chose the black and white as sometimes all the color in the classrooms is too much for my little camera.

Priming took at least two coats, some three. Now the gold is applied, rather bright to begin with!

Taking shape, hope it's spelled correctly....

Day of installing and day before the family leaves. Beautiful and cold out. We had to find ladders the night before that were buried in snow drifts. We took them inside to thaw them out for overnight.