Carter Robert Eaton was born Feb. 13, 2001, at Providence Alaska Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. He weighed six pounds 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. He is the son of CIRI shareholder Mari Eaton and her husband Brent, and the grandson of the late CIRI shareholder Vera Rodekohr, originally from Alexander Creek. Alaska Native leader Perry Eaton and his wife Ardene are also proud grandparents. Carter joins sister Lauren who turned three years old on June 26.
Jessica Marina Mendez was born April 12, 2001, at 12:39 p.m. at the Kodiak Island Hospital in Kodiak, Alaska. She weighed six pounds and 14.5 ounces and was 19.2 inches long. She is the daughter of CIRI shareholder Wendy Shin-Mendez and her husband Luis Mendez. She joins brother Joshua Luis Mendez, age two. Jessica is the granddaughter of CIRI shareholder Marcy Kilborn and husband Mitch of Kodiak, Alaska.
CIRI shareholder Edward Jay Demoski completed five years of National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (NJATC) training and is now a Certified Union Electrician Journey Wireman with IBEW Union Local 46 in Seattle, Wash. Edward is the son of CIRI shareholder Lillian Demoski and Doyon shareholder Ernest Demoski of Eagle River, Alaska.
Skylar Shaye Light was born Sept. 21, 2000, at the Munson Hospital in Traverse City, Mich. She weighed seven pounds and two and a half ounces. Skylar's proud grandmother is CIRI shareholder Marie Huhndorf Carlson.
CIRI descendant Lisa Johansen was named a Second Honors Achiever for the fall 2000 semester at the University of San Diego in San Diego, Calif., where she was a freshman. She was also selected for the 15-member Terero Dance Team for the academic year 2000-01 and 2001-02 and performs during many major collegiate basketball tournaments. She is a 2000 graduate of Monroe High School in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the daughter of CIRI shareholder Yulanda Richardson Johansen and granddaughter of the late George and Delcie (Deitz) Richardson.
The Grollers, who had three children of their own and three adopted children, raised Kelly in Anchorage until she was nine. True to her word, Groller's mother kept her out of institutional living and inspired her to believe in herself and live up to her true potential. As a result, Groller went on to get a bachelor's degree in communication disorders from Colorado State University. Her degree program centered on helping people who have speech and language problems that are related to physical and cognitive complications.
CIRI Shareholder Kelly Groller
She decided to base her graduate thesis on how to use creative writing to teach writing and language skills to ESL students. This was considered innovative and even radical, as ESL students are typically taught to write academic essays by focusing on discrete parts of their writing, such as thesis statements, topic sentences and use of details. Still Groller felt stories would give these students the scaffolding to increase their sense of confidence with writing and also give them the freedom to experiment.
Groller learned that each culture has a unique idea about the world and what is logical in one culture won't be in another. She realized along with teaching ESL students how to write in English, she was also teaching them to think in a different way. She found the biggest hurdle these students had to overcome was learning how to think from a western perspective, which they must effectively communicate in their writing. As a result, she felt creative writing had the potential to allow international students the opportunity to blend their own viewpoint with a western one.
Now that she has her master's degree, Groller feels that she's reached an important milestone in her life's journey and she looks forward to testing her ideas in the classroom. She says, "Mainly I hope the students will be able to find connections between their native languages and English and then use this as a form of self-expression."
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