Local News

Tyrone native leaves impact on Alaska through Head Start

Jamie Bachmann knew, when the normally mild-mannered teacher from Tyrone raised his voice at her in the Alaskan blizzard, that he was serious.

Bachmann, the vice principal of the local school in Gambell, Alaska, had been walking her 5-year-old granddaughter to kindergarten when a snowstorm struck. Lost and disoriented in the squall, they had been calling out for help when Courtland Pannebaker found them.

"They had been out there for close to 30 minutes, and they were almost hypothermic," Pannebaker said.

"The little girl had lost one of her gloves, and her hand was severely frostbitten. I grabbed the little girl's hand with my mittens, and I pretty much dragged her because she was screaming," he said, explaining that "she didn't want to leave her grandma."

After Pannebaker brought them to safety, the Gambell School canceled classes. That was one of the first times the Gambell School had a snow day, Pannebaker said.

"We got totally turned around and were going the wrong way, and Courtland found us," Bachmann said. "He totally saved my life. He saved my granddaughter's life. … She's back in Colorado with my daughter, and she still asks about Courtland."

Pannebaker, who has been teaching and coaching at the Gambell School for six years, was recently named the Alaska Head Start Association's Teacher of the Year.

A native of Tyrone, Pannebaker said he was a Boy Scout with a love for "venturing out, going places, doing things and meeting people."

He graduated from Penn State Altoona in 2016 before interning in the Bellwood-Antis Area School District.

Following his internship, he attended a career fair at Penn State University Park and learned about the Bering Strait School District in northwestern Alaska. He was offered a job later that day.

Pannebaker said he was "ecstatic" upon receiving AHSA's award.

"It's nice to be able to prove myself right, that I'm doing what I need to be doing," Pannebaker said. "It makes me feel good that people were willing to nominate me from (Gambell). That means that they think that I'm doing a good job as well."

Upon arriving in Alaska, it became clear to Pannebaker that life up north was much different from Pennsylvania. There were no cars -- he had to purchase a four-wheeler for transportation -- and there was just one main road running through town.

"The only way on and off of our island is by plane," Pannebaker said. "It made me think, 'Wow, I am really kind of stepping back in time in a way, and just into a whole new culture.'"

The hardest adjustment, however, wasn't relying on Amazon Prime for food -- it was the temperature.

"In Alaska, it's light for almost 24 hours (in summertime)," Pannebaker said. "It was always daytime when I got here, and then in the wintertime, mixed in with the cold and the wind, it's negative 60 degrees at times with the wind chill."

But rather than wallow in self-pity, Pannebaker embraced the change.

"I just appreciated it. I was like, 'Wow, this is really cool, getting to experience this,'" Pannebaker said. "In the winter here when it is dark, you can see the aurora (borealis) sometimes. ... I would walk to work and be able to see the aurora dance."

Another new challenge was learning the ways and traditions of the Yupik, the indigenous people of Pannebaker's village. He tries to incorporate their native language into the curriculum -- as well as learning it himself -- along with its many different names for "ice" and the migratory patterns of whales, in order to pass the knowledge on to younger generations.

Bachmann said this has helped him assimilate into Gambell.

"He got to go whale hunting last year, and that's pretty rare," Bachmann said. "The kids love him."

Pannebaker said his village suffered when COVID-19 struck, since there weren't many ways to get off the island or places to go. The Gambell School's students also couldn't travel for sports like biathlon, which Pannebaker coaches.

Bering Strait School District is the only school district in the country that competes in biathlon, which consists of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Pannebaker said that because the students start hunting at an extremely young age by imitating their elders, they know how to use guns safely.

One of Pannebaker's main goals is to give his students, who are preschool-age, a foundation for learning to decrease the dropout rate, which he attributes to a poor job market. But getting them excited about school is enough to keep him coming back.

"As long as I'm having fun, I will continue to come back. As long as I'm still learning, I'll continue to come back," Pannebaker said. "Whichever direction life steers me in, I'll be happy to take that path."