Welcome to Negtemiut Elitnaurviat School in Nightmute, Alaska. We are located approximately in the middle of Nelson Island on the Toksook River, and our community is one of the oldest on the island. In 1964-65, some of the villagers decided to move to what is now Toksook Bay. They hauled their houses, during the winter, down the river and across the bay. Some floated their houses. When approximately half the village had moved, the rest decided to stay here and are here to this day. There are two tribal councils in Nightmute: the Nightmute Tribal Council which is land bearing and the Umkumiut Tribal Council which is not land bearing. Negtemiut (Nightmute's Yupik name) means "pressing wind." Nightmute is the setting of the 2002 Christopher Nolan film, Insomnia, starring Hilary Swank, Al Pacino, and Robin Williams. The film was not shot in the real Nightmute, but in Squamish, British Columbia.
According to the 2020 census our population is 314. Our school of approximately 90 students (Pre-K to Grade 12) is served by five certified teachers and two associate teachers. It is a dual language school where Pre-K through fifth grade have the Yupik language, science and social studies taught in Yupik. We moved into our new school in January 2019. The next school year we had our first boys' basketball team in over twenty years. The students hold fundraising tournaments at least once a month and operate a student store to raise money for sports travel.