HUMAN

Name: Kelly Villar

Age: 42
Residence: Mansfield, Connecticut
Occupation: Teacher

Years involved with Iditarod: This is my first year out on the trail.

Iditarod Role: Teacher on the Trail.

Current Location: Nikolai, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 11, 2020
Temperature: -30F/Outdoors 60F/Indoors

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

I got involved with the Iditarod because of my dad. About 20 years ago my dad called me up, I was living in Virginia Beach at that time, and he said, “You need to check out this dog race,” because he knew I loved dogs. I got off the phone with him, pulled it up on the internet, started reading a lot about it and then thought, “Hey, I can use this in the classroom.” Then I was hooked and I continued for about 20 years so far.

What is your Why?..Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

I’m here today and involved with the Iditarod because I’m the 2020 Teacher on the Trail. Every day I write journal entries about what’s going on on the trail. I also take time to write a tribute to perseverance for mushers that have been on the trail in the past. I also write lesson plans and give teaching tips to teachers across the world to use in their classroom. I think that’s important because when I teach the Iditarod in my class, it’s a time when the kids are really engaged. They love the dogs, they love learning about Alaska because it’s just so different from Connecticut, where I’m from. We spend most of our year incorporating Iditarod into just about everything we do, science, social studies, talking about communities, math problems, STEM, reading. It’s a part of our whole life.

 

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was my first flight in a small plane. I think that’s one of the things that I was most nervous about when I came up to Alaska as Teacher on the Trail, was getting into the small plane and flying from checkpoint to checkpoint. But my first experience, I was just awestruck. I took hundreds of pictures out the window of the mountains and anything I could see.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is that my family is very important. I have a very supportive husband and six wonderful children. When I decided to apply for Teacher on the Trail, they all backed me, and they’re at home cheering me on right now.