HUMAN

Name: Maggie Hamilton
Age: 36
Residence: Mitchell, IN
Occupation: 5th grade teacher
Years involved with Iditarod: 2
Iditarod Role: 2025 Teacher on the Trail
Current Location: IDITAROD EDUCATOR’S CONFERENCE, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
Date of Photo: FEBRUARY 25, 2025
Temperature: 68F, INDOORS

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?:

I got involved with Iditarod, growing up in the 90s, I learned about the Iditarod at school growing up in Colorado and that’s when I first got interested. And then a former Iditarod veteran, Lachlan Clarke had visited my mom’s church and he had brought a couple of dogs and everything. And that is when I started to really get hooked. I watched movies like Iron Will as a kid. And then once I started teaching, I knew I was going to bring the Iditarod into my classroom. So from year one, I started teaching using the Iditarod. And after year one, we started our whole school teaching about Iditarod and using it in the classroom, and ever since then.

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

 

I am here today and involved with Iditarod because I am passionate about using the Iditarod in my classroom. I love the way students get so excited learning about something that is so different from where they live in Southern Indiana. We get a little bit of snow, but this lifestyle is completely opposite from what they know. And in my classroom and in my school, there’s a complete buzz in the school when it’s Iditarod time. And teachers are using the Iditarod in all subject areas and the kids get so excited and are so enthusiastic, they forget that they’re learning.

Tell me about your most memorable Iditarod experiences?:

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was last year in 2024 when I was in Alaska as a finalist for the 2025 Teacher on the Trail. I made a very specific point to talk to and meet as many people as possible. So that experience overall as a finalist was life-changing for me. I met the most incredible people. One time I was standing in the chute at the restart and I found out that I was standing next to an incredibly important volunteer. They were humble and they weren’t telling me who they were at first and we just had a great conversation. I met people from all over the world and I brought back so many different things that I could talk to my students about.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is dreams can come true at any age. It’s been a dream of mine to be involved with the Iditarod and then to become the Teacher on the Trail. And I am showing my students, and students around the world, and teachers even, that if you have a dream and you have a passion, you are never too young or too old to live it, just you have to always try.