Tyonek

A reporter’s journey covering the most unique school district in America.

As a young reporter in her second year as a Report for America corps member, Riley Board wasn’t expecting to cough up $1,800 to charter a private plane, but she had no other choice: the only scheduled flight to Tyonek, a small Alaska Native village on the west side of the Cook Inlet, had left without her and her photographer, and she had a story to cover.

Board sat next to the pilot in the tiny 4-person plane, giant headphones over her ears to block out the noise of the plane, feeling a mix of relief and excitement: Tyonek is only accessible by plane, and despite occasionally mentioning it in stories, no one from her newsroom had ever visited.