Michele Brown

During the coronavirus pandemic, families are sheltering in place. Many people are working remotely from home or have been laid off. Children are no longer physically attending school but are participating in distance learning. Some families are getting to know each other better as they stay indoors, play board games and binge-watch television. But in other families, the stress of a loss of income or the question of how to pay the rent or put food on the table is ramping up emotions.

The story of Akhiok graduate Denise Kalmakoff (“Meet an Alaska graduating class of one,” Marc Lester, ADN, May 25) is a lovely account of family, school and community uniting to help a daughter launch her dreams. And while the story describes how it is to go to a school of 13 in a Kodiak Island village, its fundamental lessons apply here in Anchorage and anywhere else in Alaska.