Hello! My name is Mike Hoyt, and this is my third year teaching in Nome, having previously taught at Thunder Mountain in Juneau. I am Tlingit and Inupiaq. My Tlingit names are Aak’wtaatseen and Gashx, and I come from the Teeyhittaan clan from Wrangell. The Inupiaq side of my family is from Diomede originally, though my great-great grandmother, Maggie Kusugnalook Riley, moved to Deering when she got married, which is where her daughter (my great-grandma) Ida Mae Rose, and grandson (my grandpa), Leo Comer, were raised. 

I’ve lived most of my life in Oregon, Washington, and Southeast Alaska, but moved to Nome in 2018, the homeland of my partner Meghan Sigvanna Topkok. 

I initially got my bachelors degree in philosophy, but after working at summer culture camps, I fell in love with education and got my Masters of Arts in Teaching. I am particularly interested in topics surrounding philosophy (what is knowledge?), language and literature (how do the stories we tell reflect our understanding of the world around us?), history (what challenges have we faced and how did we overcome them?), and Alaska Native cultures (all of the above), which is why I became a social studies and language arts teacher.

Gunalchéesh, Quyanna, Thank you.

To email me click here.