Bobbi Dushkin at Nazan Bay in Atka, Alaska

This summer, Bobbi Dushkin joins the local team and the WAYK team at the Atka Summer Intensive as APIA’s regional intern. We are thrilled that she’s here!

Hello my name is Bobbi Dushkin, I was born and raised in Alaska. I grew up and lived in Sand Point, an Eastern dialect speaking community. My family is from Alaska as well; my mom is from a small village called False Pass, and my dad is from Belkofski Bay. My family is a commercial fishing family; they go salmon fishing during the summer.

I heard about this language summer intensive though the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. I became interested in this summer program when I first heard about it. The reason why I am interested in this is because I am Alaska Native and I don’t even know my own language. This language that I will be learning isn’t the Eastern dialect (which would be spoken in Sand Point), it is the Western dialect. This will be the first time that I will be learning a new language.

My plan after the summer is to learn the language enough where I can have a full conversation with a fluent speaker. My hopes are to teach it to other people and hopefully bring the language back from getting lost.

Post authored by Bobbi.

Written by Evan Gardner