In June 1988 Ken Castner, a local fisherman and prominent community member, saw the dead Sperm Whale on the beach of East Chugiak Island. Over the entire month of July, various community members made multiple trips to butcher the whale and recover the bones. For two years they lay in a local yard, before they were cleaned and taken to the museum, where they rested for four years. In the fall of 1994, the bones were transported to Homer High School, where the completed skeleton currently hangs from the ceiling in the Commons. There is much more detail to this amazing story, but even more amazing, is that no one has heard this story before.
The entire story, complete with photographs, hangs in the most used hallway in the school, but out of 50 students asked, not one had ever read the story behind our whale. It is impossible to miss the skeleton; the massive structure is visible after anyone’s first steps in the school, and with hundreds of students walking under it each day, it is incredible that no students have ever been curious enough to read the history of the whale.
When asked why he never read the story, Dylan Faulkner said, “Well it just never seemed important enough. Our passing times are getting shorter and shorter, and I always have more important things to worry about. It’s the teacher’s fault that none of us read it!”
It is also possible that the posters are in the wrong location. Not very many people stop in the middle of the hallway for a history lesson, and Dr. Gee believes that this may be the case. He plans to move the posters to the hallway outside the theater, so that people waiting in line can read them, and that student artwork can be hung in their place. This helps more people to read the whale story, and also allows students to connect with a more modern and relatable presentation; a win-win for everybody.