Teacher takes to Iditarod trail

For elementary teacher Kim Kavanagh, this year's Iditarod has been an experience she will never forget.

Kavanagh, a second-grade teacher at Ridge Meadows Elementary School in Ellisville, Mo., is the Iditarod "Teacher on the Trail" for the 2002 race.

Kavanagh's part in the program is not just to experience the race as it progresses, but also to pass on her experiences to students throughout the world via the Internet.

"This is a good experience for the students to follow," Kavanagh said. "I like to think of it as a virtual tour that allows the kids to go along with me on this journey."

Each day of the race she provides Iditarod Headquarters with lesson plans that integrate the Iditarod race with academics of mathematics, geography, language arts and science.

She also provides a daily journal and pictures of her experiences from the race. All of this information is then posted on the Iditarod Web site for use by students and teachers.

There are no plush accommodations for Kavanagh during her trip. She is flown to checkpoints along the way by the Iditarod Air Force, a group of small airplanes that deliver supplies and support staff to the checkpoints along the trail, as well as returning dropped dogs that the mushers have left at the checkpoints.

While at the checkpoints, her accommodations include eating whatever food is available there and laying out her sleeping bag on available floor space or bunks inside the checkpoint.

She stays at checkpoints to meet many of the mushers come through, getting a chance to see and talk to them. Kavanagh said that one of the early high points of her trip was eating dinner with Martin Buser and DeeDee Jonrowe when they stopped at the Skwentna checkpoint.

The process for selection as the Teacher on the Trail begins more than a year in advance of the current race. According to Kavanagh, the Iditarod Trail Committee conducts a national search, asking each contestant to submit a portfolio of teaching lessons that integrates the Iditarod with academics.

For Kavanagh and other 2002 contestants, this was accomplished early last year, before the start of the 2001 race.

Kavanagh was one of three finalists who were required to pay their way to Anchorage. A panel of Iditarod Trail Committee members interviewed the three contestants before the start of the 2001 race and selected Kavanagh in April.

From April until the start of this year's race, Kavanagh fine-tuned her lesson plans and prepared for the trip.

Kavanagh's belief in the Teacher on the Trail program has made all of the time, effort and expense well worth the trip for her.

"Anytime you can combine adventure and education, it greatly enhances the learning process," she said.

As for her personal experiences of hopping along checkpoints to follow the race as it unfolds, Kavanagh considers it to be an amazing adventure.

"It has been an adventure of a lifetime," she said. "I came into each checkpoint not knowing anyone, but was so welcomed by everyone - I learn so much from everyone I have met."