This case study explores the interactions between a teacher, her students, and a culturally based math curriculum in a fifth and sixth grade classroom in rural Alaska. The case attempts to identify and illuminate factors that created a rich learning environment while implementing Star Navigation: Explorations into Angles and Measurement, a module from the series, Math in a Cultural Context (MCC). This case describes how the teacher facilitated the embedded Yup'ik cultural knowledge into lively, mathematical communication and learning made relevant to a non-Yup'ik group of students. Students' pre- and post-test results showed strong gain scores as well as high absolute post-test scores, placing this class in the small category where a rural treatment group outperformed all urban treatment and control groups. Thus, this compelling case provides an example of a classroom and curricular learning environment that reverses national trends for rural students in general and shows potential for Alaska Native students in particular. Further, it provides examples of factors that other teachers, administrators, and teacher educators can employ in their own teaching and classes to create more effective math classrooms.