By: Nikki Allen 2010 Teacher on the TrailTM Finalist
Building sleds, packing food drops, sewing booties, and researching the weather at checkpoints. If you were at fourth grader in Trent Herbst’s class, these are only a few of the exciting things that you would get to participate in at school every day. Trent, an Iditarod musher and teacher from Idaho believes in using the Iditarod to provide real life, interactive learning techniques for his fourth grade students. He uses the Iditarod to teach lessons in most subject areas. Trent believes that the one question that teachers should ask themselves is: “Do they want their students to be consumers or creators?” He feels that if you want your students to really be able to apply knowledge they must have the opportunity to be creators by doing hands-on activities in the classroom.Trent began his Iditarod journey with the mindset that it would be a “one-shot deal.” This year though, will be his third run. For Trent the Iditarod is a family operation. Everyone is there to help with the process. He is currently running a yearling team for Ed Stielstra. Ed says that he is very particular about who runs his teams and feels that Trent is the perfect person. “Trent’s dog care is superior and he is into the sport for all of the right reasons which are dogs, dogs, and dogs.” Ed also says that he is interested in Trent’s link to education and his affiliation with the Race for Rescue non-profit organization that is helping to raise money for drowning prevention in Uganda. It is estimated that at least 5,000 Ugandans drown every year on its many lakes and rivers. For every fisherman drowned there are an average of seven dependants left behind. For more information on the Race for Rescue organization visit their website at http://www.raceforrescue.com/ . Trent usually gets Ed’s yearling team in September and trains them through the Iditarod. This year he said that his team came to him in amazing shape because they had been on the glacier training this summer. He says that the hardest thing about running someone else’s team is leaving the dogs after the race.
Trent’s love of mushing and excitement for teaching infiltrates his daily classroom activities. He teaches math by having students build his race sled. The kids start by using toothpicks to build a model to scale and then work their way up to building the actual race sled by using hockey sticks. Trent is not planning on shipping another sled out this year and will rely on the sled that his students built and have ownership in. He has also used sled building as a history lesson where his students have done research and found out that during WWII, the United States Army had a sled building factory at Iditarod. Other math lessons in Trent’s class include making snow shoes and calculating weights and measurements for food drop bags. Trent connects the Iditarod to science by having students research weather at checkpoints and also uses weather calculations to plan for the type of runner plastic that he will need for his sled. He says that his students also make all of his booties, dog jackets, and blankets for the race.
Trent says that it is a privilege as a teacher to be able to run the Iditarod with the participation of his students, and says that, “They feel great pride in the race because of their involvement.” Best of luck this year not only to Trent, but to his fourth grade students who have also participated in this great journey. We will all be excited to follow this team’s progress to Nome!
