Bear fanatics all over the country participate in National Fat Bear Week during the month of October. This is a two week event, where people vote for their favorite fat bear in Katmai National Park in Alaska. 

This competition begins when the National Park Rangers select the fattest bears. This process requires them to have good before and after pictures of the bears’ hibernation season. Yet, the difficult part of this competition is that the rangers cannot weigh the chosen bears due to them being wild animals. They do this in hopes of not interrupting their natural environment.

The next part of the competition is when the chosen mammals are put out to the world for the deciding vote. 

AP US History teacher, Kendra Parker, is especially passionate about the week. It began with a fat bear legend, Otis, who is her “favorite grandpa of the falls” said Parker. 

“I saw the photo online and became fascinated,” said Parker. Four years later, and now she’s involving her students. 

Before the contest even begins, Parker puts on the bear cam during class work time to help her students “study up” for the following week. To gain her students interest, she creates healthy competition in her classroom. “I let them fill out a bracket for bonus points. So every round they get correct, I’ll give them a bonus point,” said Parker. 

The 2023 Fat Bear Week’s winner is Grazer. Now we must wait until next year to vote on some of Alaska’s fattest bears.