HISTORY and OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION
In the early twentieth century, as today, about 200 people live on Nunivak Island (Griffin 1996). Almost all of them were Alaskan Eskimo peoples who speak Cup'ig, a distinct language of these people. The people refer to themselves as Cup'ig ("The Real People"), or Nunivaarmiut ("the people of Nunivak"). Nunivaarmiut oral history documents thousands of inhabitants in pre-historic times living in several winter villages, migrating seasonally to camps for fishing, sealing, or caribou hunting (Lantis 1946). One of the most important villages on Nunivak was at Nash Harbor, a locale associated historically with several sealing locations, known as a "spring camp;" a place for sealing, cod fishing and bird hunting (Griffin 1996). Ellikarrmiut, the "Old Village" at Nash Harbor, is about to be reborn…but in a different light!

During the winter of 2003, Nunivak Island Mekoryuk Alaska (NIMA) Corporation established a subsidiary company, Nunivak Island Cultural Education & Adventures, LLC (NICEA). The focus of this enterprise is to re-establish a traditional seasonal camp at Ellikarrmiut with the sole purpose of providing a culturally rich, wilderness-based, educational environment for students to come and study Indigenous culture and environment and the western sciences.

THE SCHOOL
NIMA and Nunivak Island Cultural Education and Adventures (NICEA) have teamed with local Yukon Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta educators, Elders and resource management specialists to develop the core learning components for the Ellikarrmiut Camp.

See video/slideshow of Edward Curtis photos from Nunivak Island. This field-based school will serve a variety of learners and provide an ideal learning environment for instruction in the traditional and western sciences. Education team members include: University of Alaska Fairbanks- Kuskokwim Campus, Alaskan Outdoor Center, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Nuniwarmiut Piciryarata Tamaryalkuti, City of Mekoryuk, Mekoryuk School, The Kayak Way and others. “Our approach to education at NICEA emphasizes both the traditional Native way of knowing as well as the western scientific approach. Nunivak Island provides the ideal wilderness, historic and cultural setting for students to develop expertise in both disciplines.“ Wayne Don, Program Manager, NIMA Board.

The school’s physical location is approximately 35 miles west of the village of Mekoryuk on the north side of Nunivak Island at Nash Harbor, or Ellikarrmiut (see map). Students and supplies will be transported from the village to Ellikarrmiut via powerboat. The camp will be tent and ‘weatherport’ based with a mess-dining facility, classrooms and work areas, shop, shower, sleeping quarters and some utilities. Elders in residence, scientists, adventurers and students will reside in the camp, which will serve as a base for learning activities. ‘Spike’ camp facilities will be utilized for forays distant from the Ellikarrmiut base.

THE CURRICULUM
Core curriculum will be a blend of western academic and the traditional subsistence sciences. Biology 104, The Natural History of Alaska, will be presented through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Science Engineering and Mathematics. Field projects will be designed around community and USFWS ‘real-time needs’ with data collected as part of ongoing long-term scientific efforts for the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and the Nunivak Island Wilderness.

Instruction in the indigenous sciences, culture and local environment will be structured around standards developed through the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, with elders as teachers, using the local Nunivaarmiut knowledge base, culturally aligned curriculum and teaching methods. Traditional science will be inter-woven throughout all learning activities.

An adventure-based format will be used throughout the program to provide experiential opportunities across curricula. Upland, cross-country and coastal backpacking and ocean kayak field excursions will be integrated in the field curricula. Modern kayaks, hiking and camping equipment and trained support staff will be provided by the Alaskan Outdoor Center.

There will also be opportunities for students to directly participate in cross-curricular activities such as skin boat building classes with professional shipwrights and elders, multimedia video web-based IT training documentation, reindeer herding, micro-enterprise and business development activities (eco-tourism), leadership development and much more.