Alaska’s high school graduation rate lags behind the nation - and Alaska Natives are more likely to drop out of school than others. In rural Alaska, high school students who have their sights set on graduation may not be sure what to do next. In the next installment of our “Being Young in Rural Alaska” series, from the producers of Kids These Days, reporter Mark Arehart looks at an idea designed to keep kids in high school, by giving them a glimpse of their possible futures.
MARK AREHART: Usually this sound
Not these kids, though. They are prepping for the ACT college admissions, and they work straight through the bell. They come from villages across the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta to Bethel for a special program, one that’s not just for kids with straight A’s.
That’s Daniel Inman, he’s a junior from Toksook Bay. He and his classmates are enrolled in accelerated math and science classes, aimed at preparing them for college and eventual careers.
Not all village schools can offer the upper level science and math classes students need for some college programs; so this program – called RANSEP- has students split their time between their home villages, Bethel, and a summer session at UAA.
For the Lower Kuskokwim School District, the college prep program is at the center of a larger idea: the hybrid high school.
It’s an effort that brings village students to Bethel for intense learning segments, ranging from a week to an entire semester, then sends them back to their villages better prepared for the next step. Assistant Superintendent Dan Walker.
And Walker says to do that, schools need to keep kids engaged.
Another branch of LKSD’s hybrid high-school is the Aviation Career Education Academy, or ACE, a special week-long program that also brings kids in to Bethel from villages across the region - kids like Bruce Simons, a 7th grader from Toksook Bay.
Bruce and other students jump in the cockpit of an old plane used for instruction at the local flight school hangar.
The ACE program is giving kids a chance to delve into how aviation works, both in the classroom and in the field. They are learning about everything from the right conditions for flight…
… to how to actually put the wings on a plane.
Andrea Pokrzywinski directs the Ace program.
She says students were picked based on the essays they wrote, not just the grades that they’ve made.
Again, Dan Walker of LKSD:
And that’s the reason Walker says the Hybrid High School has been a success; it gives kids that have dreams of growing up and being a doctor or a pilot the tools to learn how to do that.
Kids like Daniel Inman.
Similar programs to LKSD’s Hybrid High School are in place in Nenana and in the Nome and Bering Straights school districts.
This reporting series is a production of the Content Producers Guild and is made possible through funding from the Association of Alaska School Boards’ Initiative for Community Engagement program. For more photos and information please visit KidsTheseDays.org .
