Pace Chikigak would have been a senior at Mt. Edgecumbe High School this year, the third generation in his family to attend the state-run boarding school in Sitka. His mom Jolene, who graduated in 2003, says he was a straight-A student with a huge heart.
“If you needed a friend, he was there. He never turned anybody away,” she said. “He was an amazing kid. I was so proud to be his mom.”
When Pace died in April at home, Chikigak says she called the school to let them know, and asked if a staff member could pack up her son’s belongings from his dorm room and mail them to her. The person she spoke with on the phone said they would.
“Every day I was wondering if I would come home from work to see a box of his stuff, but it never came. And so, you know, I would email and be like, ‘Hey, I still haven’t received his items. You know, were they mailed?’ And they were like, ‘Oh, we do have a tracking number. It was mailed.'”
But when a package finally showed up, it was a memorial plaque and letters from students from Pace’s service at the school, not the items from his room.
“I always made him come back [home] because I wanted him here for his birthday. So he only brought home the clothes he was clothed [in], sweaters and other items he wasn’t going to be bringing back,”Chikigak said. “I know left his towels, bedding, probably extra clothes that he didn’t bring. I think maybe shoes, toiletries and whatnot he did leave behind that we did not receive.”
It was important for Chikigak to get these items for Pace’s traditional funeral rites in her home village of Akulerak.
“In our culture, we were supposed to burn his items 40 days after his death and hold a feast, she said. “But the items I never received, we never got to burn, and it’s just our culture.”
After 40 days, they held the feast without all of Pace’s belongings. But she continued to reach out to staff at Mt. Edgecumbe, holding out hope that the items were still on their way. Via email, staff said they would look for them, but then she says they didn’t follow up about whether the items were lost or found.
“You never know if the item, the thing, might not be valuable, but they might be sentimental and have huge meaning for the student,” Chikigak said. “That’s what really upsets me. I just feel like I’m being gaslighted.”
Eventually one of Chikigak’s co-workers connected her with KCAW, and we reached out to see if we could learn what had happened to Pace’s missing belongings. In a statement, Superintendent Suzzuk Huntington wrote, “Mount Edgecumbe High School remains deeply saddened by the loss of one of our students. Our administrators, staff, students, and community have come together to pay our respects and show our support for the family -and continue to keep them in our thoughts. Out of respect, courtesy, and privacy to the student’s family, we will not be giving further comment.”
KCAW also reached out to the Chair of the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development, which oversees Mt. Edgecumbe High School. We were referred to a public affairs staff member, but have received no statement.
A week after KCAW reached out to the high school, Chikigak received an email from staff. They’d finally found something – a notebook. She was informed that it was the only remaining item of Pace’s at the school.
Chikigak’s grief is compounded by the fact that Pace died by suicide. Getting his belongings back won’t necessarily ease her pain, but it could offer her some closure. She says she wishes the school would take accountability for losing the dorm room items. She says she’s connected with two other parents who have had trouble recovering their children’s property from the school. She hopes the school will review their practices around recovering and returning student’s items to families, so no parent has to go through this again.
Mostly, she just wants folks to remember Pace, who loved hiking and biking, his two dogs, going for a random car ride, and so much more.
“I would like to keep his memory alive. I want him to be remembered for the lovable, amazing person he was, [rather] than how he had passed away,” she said. “I just want him to be remembered for the amazing, straight-A kid he was.”
If you are a loved one is struggling with thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or Alaska Careline at 877-266-HELP.
