Students, teachers, and staff have reached out via a video message of support to their neighboring village of Hooper Bay which was recently stunned by four back to back suicides.
According to Alaska State Trooper records, four Hooper Bay residents in their 20s committed suicide between Sept. 24 and Oct. 11.
Governor Bill Walker was at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual conference in Anchorage last week where attendees lamented those numbers.
He says he does not have the answers for how to lower the numbers but will continue to look for ways.
That conference was also marred by the death of 49-year-old Anthony Choquette who jumped to his death just before the closing banquet on Sunday, October 18.
The video sent by the residents of Chevak to Hooper Bay ended with the Chevak School congregation singing “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers.
