HUMAN

Name: Deirdre Washburn
Age: Old enough to be a grandma of 10 grandkids

Residence: Ruby, Alaska

Occupation:  I am a teacher 

Years involved with Iditarod: This is my 3rd year.

Iditarod role: Teacher

Current Location: Ruby, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 13, 2020
Temperature: 30F/Outdoors

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

I got involved with the Iditarod about three years ago when I moved up to Alaska and, I was working with a Lady, Crane, and she had lived in a village and worked with the Iditarod. So That was my first time teaching the Iditarod. And, actually, it helped me learn a lot about Alaska as a teacher, teaching students from Alaska. 

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

I’m here today and involved with the Iditarod because I live in Ruby, Alaska and the Iditarod, on the even years, runs through Ruby, Alaska. I have the whole trip, the Iditarod trip, posted in the school so that the students can travel along with the Iditarod as they’re reading. And the Serum Run, which is what this all started from in 1925, came through Ruby, Alaska. And actually the great grandfather of many of these students actually carried Serum during the Serum Run.

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

One of the most memorable Iditarod experiences that I have is right, now. I’ve taught the Iditarod for three years in the classroom and I use all this data from the Iditarod, and I had no idea that there were people that were actually putting that data online so that I could teach it in the classroom.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is not really a lot, except that we have roots and we have a history, and our history shouldn’t die with our elders, it should be carried along. And that’s one of the things that I try to teach with the Iditarod… this is historical. It’s a historical event with the gold rush, with the Serum Run. It just all wraps around together. You get geography in this. And this is actually a mode of transportation that they actually used back in the day till actually 1960 something.