Iditarod lessons

ANCHORAGE — Cathy Walters underwent her last chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cervical cancer four weeks ago. On Sunday, the North Carolina native comes to the start of the Iditarod as this year’s Target Teacher on the Trail.

Her Iditarod began in 2007 when the teacher from Carolina Day School in Asheville, N.C., applied for the position. Selected as one of three finalists, she found a substitute to cover her pre-kindergarten and grade 1-5 enrichment classes when she came to Anchorage for the 2008 Iditarod.

At the Winter Teacher’s Conference, the three finalists underwent interviews, submitted written reports on simulated Iditarod situations and wrote lesson plans relating the race to classroom teaching, according to Walters.

Once she found out she had been selected as the 11th teacher on the trail, she used the Iditarod as a theme in her classroom and posted related lesson plans to Iditarod.com. The subjects include reading, writing, science, geography and math.

“The Iditarod is so inspiring to kids,” Walters said. “It fires them up and their interest for any educational subject your teaching. In my pre-k classes, I want the kids to know where Alaska is. I made up a song piggy-backed to a familiar tune, and pretty soon they can point to it on a globe,” she said.“For bigger kids, I want them to know where the checkpoints on the trail are. You can adopt a musher and see where they are on the trail. You can add the times from the checkpoints, and have kids schedule where they would make their own stops.”

But the race fits best into the subject the Iditarod is really all about.

“I use it extensively to teach character education. I have an acronym using R-A-C-E. The R stands for respect and responsibility, A is for attitude, C is for compassion, and E is for excellence,” she said.

“For example, for respect and responsibility, I tell the story of Jeff King during the 2006 race. For whatever reason, his team got away from him at night with nobody around. His lead dog, Salem, was so responsible to come back and get him. Jeff showed him respect when the dog couldn’t run in the 2007 race because of an injury, Jeff brought him up to the starting line in the basket of his sled.

“You can hear a pin drop when telling the kids stories like that.”

For the “C is for compassion” example, Walters said she can now use her own story. After being selected for Teacher on the Trail, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had a complete hysterectomy and appendectomy followed with six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment ending just four weeks ago.

During treatment, her white blood cell count was so low, she thought her Iditarod race was over.

“I offered to step down and told them to pick one of the other finalists as a replacement,” Walter said, “but, the Iditarod folks were so good. They said ‘This is your journey, your trip. We know this is all going to work out.’”

The first to give credit to her team of doctors, her white blood cell count jumped dramatically when her treatment concluded.

“DeeDee Jonroe and Lance Mackey are cancer survivors and were such an inspiration. DeeDee ran the race something like three weeks after her treatment ended. If DeeDee can run the race, I can report on it,” Walters said.

Even though she said she’s being very cautious, she has not missed out on any of the Iditarod madness. She’s given or been to 12 presentations in four days and rode along with the Jr. Iditarod as a warm-up for the big race. Her first time on a snowmachine, claming it was scarier than her fight with cancer, she rode to Yentna and helped the mushers in camp.

“I was so impressed watching these teenagers come in at dark,” she said. “They were so prepared and organized to take care of themselves and their dogs.”

Once the Iditarod starts, Walters will jump from checkpoints with rides from the Iditarod Air Force. She has to carry her own gear, which she claims is keeping her warm so far with generous use of hand warmers.

Along the trail, she reports on her experiences with an eye toward the educational aspect of the race half a world away from he classroom in North Carolina.

“Its an adventure of a life time, for sure.”