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Three Petersburg High School students were recently selected to the All-State Music Festival Ensemble. Petersburg senior Eleanor Kandoll and juniors Canek Sosa and Heidi Brantuas were selected to represent Alaska at the Music Festival from Nov. 21-23, in Anchorage. Kandoll was selected for the Clarinet section. "Honestly, I was mostly relieved because I've been an All-State twice before, I would've been very disappointed if I hadn't been [selected]," Kandoll said. "It's a wonderful experience -...
Coming off a season in 2023 in which Petersburg High School's wrestling team sent four competitors to state, the Vikings will look to get back there again, with seniors Kaden Duke, Angus Olsen and Marcus Anderson leading the way. Having wrestled for 12 years now, Duke knows what he needs to do to achieve his goal to improve on his 2-2 finish at state last year. "I've accumulated a lot of knowledge of how to properly diet – I'm hoping this year I can at least win a regional championship – my seco...
For the first time in program history, the PHS Boys and Girls Cross Country teams are both the ASAA State Champions for Division III. "It's a special and historic day – I'm so happy for the kids, they earned it ... they've been consistent and worked hard every day," Head Coach Casey Gates said. Last season, the PHS boys cross country team finished third, behind Cordova and Wrangell. This year, the Vikings were able to beat Wrangell and claim their spot on top. The team was led by junior Gaje V...
The PHS Swim team continues to ramp up their intensity heading towards regions, with strong performances from multiple swimmers at the Juneau meet. "We bumped everything up after Ketchikan – they're getting pretty fit right now and we'll start working on speed," Head Coach Andy Carlisle said. "We're getting pretty close to our best times in the middle of the season which makes me pretty optimistic after we get another month of work in, we'll be doing pretty well at regions." One swimmer who h...
For the first time since 2018, the PHS girls' cross country team are the Region V Champions for Division III. Last year – despite a few very strong finishes including a second place overall finish from Maria Toth – the girls' team was unable to place as a team because of having too few runners, which made this year's championship win that much sweeter. This time around Maria Toth claimed first place in the race. And along with her, all of Petersburg's girls finished in the top ten. With a com...
Petersburg High School's volleyball team lost their first games of the season, falling to the Ketchikan Kings in games one and two this past week. The Vikings lost the first set of game one 25-13, 25-17 in the second set, and 25-19 in the third set on Thursday, Sept. 26, in Ketchikan. The Vikings had just 18 total kills on 43 attempts (41.8%) in total through both nights. "We struggled offensively, we could not put a ball away from our hitters – we didn't attack well," Head Coach Jaime Cabral s...
The PHS Cross Country team continued to build momentum toward regionals with strong performances from the men's and women's teams at the Capital Invite on Saturday, Sept. 21., in Juneau. A mid-season break didn't slow the Vikings as they race towards regionals. "The kids had a real strong week of training – and with this race, I was more excited about the overall experience and the kids pushing through a tough, gritty course," Head Coach Casey Gates said. "It was really wet, it was really m...
The PHS Swim team continued their 2024 season with strong results on Sept. 20 to 21, in a meet that included Juneau-Douglas, Ketchikan, Sitka, Craig and Wrangell, at the Ketchikan Invite. Head Coach Andy Carlisle was pleased with his team’s progress since their first meet in Petersburg. “We had a pretty good meet,” Carlisle said. Junior swimmer Logan Tow was one of the swimmers who posted strong results throughout the two-day meet. On Friday, Tow finished second out of 11 swimmers in the Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle, with a time of 50 seconds and t...
Coming off a season in which they finished third at regions in 2023, the Petersburg High School Volleyball team open 2024 with a young team, on a mission to qualify for the 2A Volleyball State Championship. "The seniors this year, they've got this mentality that last year is over, this year is this year now, but we learned a lot of stuff from last year that we got to continue on to keep it going," Head Coach Jaime Cabral said. "The closer we unite and stay together, the more production we can ge...
A warm aroma of cooked food and the scent of cedar embers sifted through Sandy Beach during the first ever Rainforest Survival series, hosted by Petersburg Parks and Recreation on Saturday Sept. 7. The two-day event focused on helping teach kids about survival skills. The class on Friday consisted of emergency bag preparation and knot tying lessons. On Saturday, lessons featured shelter building, flare signaling for rescue and fire building. "For the most part, I think it went beautifully,"...
Heading into their first meet on the road, the Petersburg High School cross country team looked to build on their momentum from the invitational hosted in Petersburg. And they did exactly that. The PHS cross country girls team had a dominant showing this past weekend in Craig, with sophomore Maria Toth, junior Gabriele Whitacre and freshmen Ariel Tucker and Zia Hulebak finishing first, second, third and fourth in the entire meet in the Women's 5000 Meters. "It was really promising and really...
Petersburg High School's swim team started the 2024 season with solid results during the Petersburg Invite on Friday Sept. 6 and Saturday Sept. 7 which featured teams from Juneau Douglas, Ketchikan, Sitka, Craig and Wrangell. Head Coach Andy Carlisle was pleased with his team's overall performance. "I can see where we're actually a little ahead of where I thought we would be, so everything is good." Carlisle looks forward to the first meet to see where his team stacks up against other competitio...
The 2024 Petersburg high school swim season is now underway. Coming off a season in 2023 where they made the state championships, the Vikings are looking to return to the championship meet in Anchorage, Alaska. In 2023, there were only two members of the team, now junior swimmers- Brooklyn Whitethorn and Logan Tow. This year, the Vikings have eight total members on the team. What I'm most excited about is "having relays because I have four boys and four girls now," this year is going to be way m...
Petersburg High School's cross country team raced out to a strong start to the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 24, in Petersburg. In a meet that included Sitka, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Juneau-Douglas, Skagway and Craig, the boys placed fourth out of seven teams. The girls placed second out of four teams. Head coach Casey Gates was very pleased with his team's performance during the first meet of the season. "I'm very excited and happy with how today went and also with the outlook of the season, I...
The sound of plucked strings and women's voices singing in unison could be heard at the outdoor Market in Petersburg on Sat. Aug. 17. The performers were a six-person ensemble known as the Uke'a Ladies. The group formed last summer thanks to music lessons offered at Petersburg's music store Bearing Song and Gifts. "I was advertising that I wanted to do a ukulele drop-in group, and [Danielle MacPhee] was my first person to come in for the ukulele class," said Sarah Hofstetter, owner of Bearing...
A sitka spruce from the Wrangell Ranger District was selected to represent Alaska as the 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas tree. "This is the first time the Capitol Christmas tree has come from the Tongass National Forest," Public Affairs and Partnerships staff officer Paul Robbins Jr. told the Pilot in an email. According to Robbins Jr., the tree will be transported over 900 miles by sea and 2,899-mile cross country to Washington D.C. Alaskans have been asked to provide over 10,000 handmade...
Fish and deer carcasses, propane bottles, and glass, all of these nonrecyclable items have shown up in the Petersburg Borough Sanitation Department's comingled recycling bins. Commingled means customers' recyclable materials don't need to be sorted into plastic, aluminum, paper, etc. However, the recycling must be clean and free of food and debris. Glass is not recyclable in Petersburg. But there are glass drop-off locations for the public at the baler and at Public Works. "At 303 South 2nd Stre...
The annual Rally for Cancer Care Golf tournament, also known as Fun and Frolic, was held Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Muskeg Meadows, in Wrangell. This year Desi Burrell and 39 other women from Petersburg went to Wrangell to participate in the annual event. This isn't your normal golf tournament; no score is kept and no skill is required by participants. "It keeps getting better every year," Burrell said. "If you've never golfed in your life, you could still have a really good time. There w...
Beth Flor took her first ever drawing class during her sophomore year of college. She had enrolled in the class because she needed one more credit and she had enjoyed drawing when she was little. That first art class made such an impression on her, she considered changing her major from social work to art. Her art teacher from that class confronted Flor with some tough advice that has stuck with her all these years. She remembers him saying, "You'll never be great, but if you work hard, you'll...
The 2024 Cross Country season has officially begun. Coming off of his first season as a head coach, Casey Gates believes this year's team could do something special. "I think the sky's the limit for us, I think we can have a very successful season," Gates said. Gates is eager to see what the talented newcomers increasing the roster on the girls team might mean for this year. "I'm excited about our girls' team this season, mostly because we're bringing in some talented freshmen and we're going...
Triathlete Dustin Barber competed in Petersburg's Summer Sprint Triathlon last Saturday, running a personal best for himself, finishing with a time of 69 minutes and 18 seconds – an improvement from 2023 when Barber completed the triathlon in 71 minutes and 46 seconds. The summer triathlon consisted of a 500-yard pool swim, then a 10-mile bike ride and a 5k run to finish everything off. Unfortunately, Barber was the only competitor in this year's race. "I expected eight," Aquatic Supervisor S...
Former photographer and current sketcher and painter Ron Hall is having his first big art show called "Colors Speak To Me," on display July 22 through July 31 at the Clausen Memorial Museum. Ron began his art career as an aerial photographer. "I took aerial photos for the Forest Service in Southeast Alaska, California and Florida," said Hall. After moving into Petersburg Medical Center's Long Term Care several years ago, Hall took up sketching and eventually painting as a hobby. Hall has been...
Petersburg's Rebecca Fisher, a 17-year old competitor in Native Youth Olympics, brought home a gold medal this month from the 2024 Indigenous Summer Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. In addition to winning gold, Fisher also claimed two silver and two bronze medals. To qualify for the Summer Games in Canada, Fisher first competed at the Traditional Games in Juneau, Alaska. When Fisher found out she qualified, she thought she was being pranked. "I was getting ready for my...
The Pedal/Paddle battle will be returning for its 10th year in Petersburg, Alaska. After raising $20,400 for education in 2023, the Petersburg Medical Center is aiming higher this time. "Our goal this year is $24,000 because it's 2024, we're shooting big," Community Wellness Manager Julie Walker said. In 2023, PMC gave out four scholarships, three to Petersburg High School graduates and one to a PMC nursing student. However, there's more to these scholarships. "We can offer a lot of money to...
Located midway down the Southeast panhandle is LeConte Glacier. Since the 1980s, Petersburg has sent high school students to LeConte Glacier to measure how it has shifted over time. The late Paul Bowen conducted the first survey in 1983 and it has been a community-driven science study since. On June 14, 2024, a group of 7th-grade students got to go out to LeConte Glacier with Oregon State University scientists. This was somewhat of a rare occurrence as Glaciologist Erin Pettit and Oceanographer...
