“I was shocked,” Hanks said in an interview at her family’s home, “but I was really, really happy.”
Her English teacher sent her mother, Karyn Hanks, an email notifying her that Violet had won. The proud mother cried tears of joy, and couldn’t wait to see her daughter after school.
“I was like, ‘I’m just going to meet her down at the bus,’ which I don’t usually do,” Karyn Hanks said. “As I was going over the little hill, I saw her running from the bus, and we were both jumping up and down.”
Karyn Hanks (standing) was so excited about her daughter Violet’s winning design, she cried tears of joy. Debee Tlumacki
The 54th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race kicks off March 7 with an 11-mile, ceremonial start through Anchorage. The real work begins the following day, when the mushers guide their sled dogs across approximately 1,000 miles of extreme terrain from Willow to Nome.
Advertisement
Along the route, mushers carry “trail mail” to honor the history of sled dogs delivering mail along the Iditarod Trail. Letters and artwork from students are carried by mushers in the race, and then returned to them afterward.
Hanks’ design will be printed on envelopes used for every piece of trail mail. She also got to choose a musher to carry her own piece of trail mail. She chose last year’s Iditarod winner, Jessie Holmes.
Violet’s English teacher, Brian Hickox, and art teacher Tracey Woodford collaborated to promote the contest to their students.
Hickox has a history with the Iditarod, having served in 2019 as the “Teacher on the Trail,” where he traveled along the Iditarod trail in Alaska, reporting on the events and building themed lessons for teachers.
Hickox said many of their students expressed interest in the art contest, and six submitted. When he found out Hanks won, he was ecstatic.
Advertisement
“I almost couldn’t even sleep all night,” he said. “That’s how excited I was, because I knew how much it meant to just earn this achievement.”
Iditarod EDU staff sifted through submissions and chose five finalists, said Jim Deprez, Iditarod EDU co-director. Renowned Alaskan artists Jon and Jona Van Zyle decided the overall winner and two runners up.
The theme for this year’s trail mail contest was “Celebrating Iditarod Veterinarians,” honoring the roughly 50 volunteer vets who monitor the health and safety of the sled dogs.
Violet Hanks,12, learned of the art contest from teachers at Gates Middle School. Debee Tlumacki
Hanks’ design depicts the female veterinarian and dog smiling, with bubble hearts between them. The design is splashed with blue watercolor, which Deprez said impressed the staff.
“This one was a little different because it was watercolor, which we don’t see a whole lot of,” he said, “and the drawing itself, with … the expressions on the faces that she was able to portray, it spoke volumes.”
Woodford previously taught Hanks in elementary school. A few summers ago, the pair became pen pals , sending each other their artwork, including watercolor book marks by Hanks.
Advertisement
“She’s been a student that’s been really close to my heart for many years,” Woodford said. “It was really nice to see that her talents are recognized at a much larger scale, because I’ve always known that she’s something special.”
Lauren Albano can be reached at lauren.albano@globe.com. Follow her on X @LaurenAlbano_.
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Supreme Court of Alaska will be taking up the case of the State of Alaska, Division of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.
The oral arguments will be held Monday at 10 a.m. via Zoom, according to an order and opening notice.
The document also specifies that a decision is expected to be made before noon on Tuesday.
According to documents from the Division of Elections, the state must start printing ballots at noon on the same day.
Advertisement
This comes after an Anchorage Superior Court Judge ordered Dan J. Sullivan on to the ballot Friday.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
A new home under construction in Potter Valley in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
This June, two very different offers reach Alaska families, and both amount to the same thing: $10,000. The difference is everything.
Bill Walker, running for governor, would hand every eligible Alaskan a one-time $10,000 check and then end the Permanent Fund dividend for good. Ask one question: Where does his $10,000 come from?
It comes from the Permanent Fund, the people’s own money and the savings Alaskans built for their children. Walker would spend that endowment once to pay Alaskans to give up the yearly dividend forever.
Think about what that does. It cancels the annual check that gives a family a reason to keep an Alaska address and replaces it with a single payout. You hand people their own savings, call it a gift and cut the tie that held them here in the same motion. It is the oldest mistake in governing money: raid what you have saved to buy a moment’s applause and call the spending generosity.
Advertisement
A plan that spends the people’s savings to send the people away is not bold. It is foolish.
Now consider the other $10,000. Through Alaska Housing Finance Corp., the state offers families up to $10,000 to build a new, energy-efficient home. AHFC raids nothing. It earns its own way. Over the years, it has returned more than $2 billion to the state treasury, and it spends some of that income the way any good business does: to win a customer.
Here, the customer is an Alaskan who wants to own a home, put down roots and stay.
That is the oldest sound move in business: Invest a little of what you earn to bring in someone who stays. The homeowner remains, the community gains a family and the corporation keeps earning. The money spent comes back. A plan that puts earnings to work to bring people home is not charity. It is clever.
Same amount. Opposite source. Opposite wisdom. One spends savings; the other spends earnings. One pays Alaskans to leave; the other pays them to stay. One empties the state; the other fills it.
Advertisement
This Homeownership Month, the choice is the size of a single check, and the whole question is where the check comes from and what it asks of you. Ten thousand dollars of your own fund, to wave you goodbye. Or $10,000, earned and reinvested, to help you stay and build.
Evan Swensen is the publisher of Publication Consultants in Anchorage and the author of “What’s the Money For: A Permanent Fund Mortgage Proposal.”
• • •
The Anchorage Daily News welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.
