Terri Walker has spent her entire career serving the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, the same region where she grew up.
Raised in Buckland, she taught for 16 years and later became principal there for nearly a decade before moving into her current role as superintendent. Her district is vast—about the size of Indiana—and its ten villages are connected not by roads but by small commuter planes, boats, and snowmachines. Like many who live in the region, she has learned to navigate this unique way of life, one where daily travel and work are inseparable from the land and the seasons.
As an Iñupiaq leader, Terri integrates cultural values and traditions into education, ensuring that students and teachers alike understand the importance of respect for the land and animals that sustain life in the Arctic.
While principal, she even taught a cultural orientation course for new teachers, taking them to camp to see how elders teach children through shared activities—whether harvesting an animal, cutting fish, or doing chores. She often incorporated subsistence practices into the classroom too, leading berry-picking trips and showing how every part of a harvested animal is used. These lessons, she says, are not just about survival but about respect, community, and living in balance.
For Terri, the reason she has never left Alaska is simple: there is no place like home. The small, family-like atmosphere of her community, the deep relationships, and the culture of sharing keep her grounded. She encourages new teachers to embrace those same values—invest in relationships, explore the outdoors, and take part in local traditions. The teachers who thrive, she says, are those who step beyond “the Bermuda Triangle” of school, post office, and store, and instead immerse themselves in the rhythms of village life. In return, they gain not only meaningful connections but a deeper sense of purpose in their work as educators.