KODIAK — Students at Kodiak Middle School raised $1,000 to give electricity to a school in Mali, west Africa.

The partnership between KMS and the middle school in Dielibougou, Mali began after Kodiak resident Heather Preece brought a longtime friend Mahim Toure from Mali to Kodiak last year. During his one-month Kodiak stay, Toure shared his culture with the people of Kodiak and gave presentations in classrooms and to the community at large.

CHUGIAK — Doña Mahurin has an iron-grip handshake forged by years as a civilian firefighter and medic on the U.S. Army’s Fort Richardson. But those years of toil also took a toll on Mahurin’s back, and the Chugiak retiree now has a difficult time with household chores like cooking dinner.

“I can’t stand there long enough to cook,” said Mahurin, gesturing to the kitchen area in the Chugiak apartment she shares with her husband.

“Introduction to Mining Occupations and Operatings” students had an opportunity to see a mine firsthand in March, when the Southeast Alaska cohort of the University of Alaska Southeast class for high school seniors toured the Coeur Alaska Kensington Gold Mine.

KODIAK — Kodiak postmaster William Kersch will soon call a new island home.

Next month he and his family will leave the Emerald Isle for Puerto Rico, where he will take over as postmaster of a US Postal Service office in Cabo Rojo on the southwest corner of the island.

Kersch has served as the postmaster in Kodiak for about seven years. This new job is a promotion and will give him a chance to serve a larger community of around 50,000 people.