Rural Alaska Students Attending Schools from State Universities to the Ivy League

By Susan B. Andrews and John Creed

KOTZEBUE - In addition to many other student groups it reaches, over the years Chukchi College, a branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has served college-bound high school students both in Kotzebue and in the Northwest Arctic region's surrounding villages.

Throughout this vast state, the University of Alaska serves a wide array of constituencies, from precocious students who might not even be out of middle school yet to elders on Social Security.

Rural high school students have continued to enroll in UAF distance classes in recent years: Buckland, Goodnews Bay, Ambler, Kotzebue, Fort Yukon, Tok, Koliganek, Selawik, Kiana, King Cove, and more throughout rural Alaska.

Some faculty members have been reluctant-we’ve even seen some faculty refuse-to allow qualified secondary students into their classes, including into introductory, developmental classes. We can’t think of a good reason to resist adding to the age mix in a class, not to mention increasing enrollment while offering a leg up for young, up-and-coming rural Alaskans.

We enjoy the enthusiasm of youth in our classes right alongside the wisdom of older students, with the generations uniting for the common purpose of learning. Over the years we’ve even had a select few high school students start with a Chukchi class and then catch fire. On the day they graduate from high school, some have nearly completed an associate’s degree.

Qualified High School Students Step Right Up!
Fellow faculty members, advisors, other staff and administrators probably don’t need any prodding, but if you have qualified high school students ready for, say, English 111 (freshman composition), sign them up! There are certainly added steps to enroll high school students, but it’s worth it. Of course, students must be qualified and ready to work hard. If students are not ready, through testing and a writing sample, for freshman composition, they might do better in a developmental English class to start things off. There are a whole host of math offerings available as well.

We have admitted high school students straight into English 111 if they are prepared. Nevertheless, we prefer that even the most advanced rural high school students take at least one and probably two developmental English classes before English 111. Many rural students may not have acquired a basic understanding of English grammar in elementary and secondary school (a growing national problem).

Even bright, capable, motivated students can make errors such as “comma splices” in their writing, for example. Unfortunately, simply correcting them without their studying the structure of English will not often “cure” the problem. Only developmental English can address these deeply embedded writing errors, even with very bright students, through the careful study of English grammar, spelling, punctuation, word use and style.

We have found that even advanced students typically benefit greatly from developmental English classes. For example, in the past couple years Chukchi has offered developmental English classes to high school students in Kotzebue face-to-face and to the surrounding villages by distance delivery. It’s part of a project we call the Chukchi Honors Program.

“Developmental” Classes: A Misnomer
In some senses, the term “developmental education” implies that we are serving under-prepared students. In fact, we are looking to serve the best, brightest, and most motivated secondary students the rural K-12 system. (Slackers need not bother, in other words.) We seek to challenge top students to excel in their written and oral communication skills while helping them recognize the heightened level of performance expected for college-level work. It’s often a wake-up call for what’s in store in college, but many are also itching for a steep challenge.

In the past year or so in Kotzebue, a couple of outstanding high school students who enrolled in Chukchi classes probably could have tested out of English 111, to say nothing of developmental English. Nevertheless, along with their peers they completed a developmental English class in the fall before completing English 111 in the spring as high school juniors. Students worked intensely on general writing concepts, language mechanics, and critical thinking skills.

Developing Advanced Writing Skills
Not always, but oftentimes writing assignments in many high school classes come back with just a short comment and a grade attached. (Often it’s the crush of other teaching duties, including discipline problems, that prevent high school teachers from offering more feedback.) To become competent college-level writers, UAF honors students benefit greatly from extensive editing as they revise, re-organize, and re-write their assignments, often multiple times. By this point students may be submitting assignments in “standard,” proper English, but that only means they now must move on to more sophisticated writing techniques such as exacting conciseness, “show don’t tell,” stronger, more vibrant verbs, and other techniques to boost writing quality and effectiveness.

That’s what UAF can offer promising young rural Alaska students looking for a rigorous academic challenge and a taste of college before they ever graduate from high school. They also can receive dual credit, high school and college, in the process.

During fall term 2007 in their senior year, college-bound high school students returning to Chukchi were joined by some new students at Chukchi. They all worked to solidify their writing and other critical thinking skills. Meanwhile, local students scouting out prestigious colleges in the Lower 48 returned to report that even the Ivies are impressed with students completing college courses while still in high school.

In a Chukchi class we team-taught last fall, a good portion of the semester was dedicated to polishing a single assignment: that all-important “college essay” included in most college applications. The students in this class also “performed” their essays by delivering them several times to the rest of the class as they kept improving their essays.

Chukchi News and Information Service
Since 1988, we have operated a cultural journalism project called Chukchi News and Information Service, created to provide students with publication incentives to produce the highest possible quality writing. Chukchi News and Information Service also furthers UAF’s mission to collaborate with undergraduates to produce juried creative works. We team up with newspapers, websites and other publication venues (such as books and magazines) to showcase UAF student writing from rural Alaska before the public.

Below are just a few samples we hope readers will take the time to peruse. They’re not very long. You won’t be disappointed. Experience some confident, unique voices emanating from the remote reaches of rural Alaska.

As most people familiar with college acceptances know, applicants must somehow grab the attention of admissions officers by distinguishing themselves in some unique, unusual way. Taylor Everett wrote the first piece listed below, and although he was a junior when he wrote it, he’ll still no doubt be able to use some version of it when he applies to college in his senior year at Kotzebue High School. Not many college applicants across the country can write about conducting real-life research involving the collaring of wildlife in the Western Arctic Caribou Herd in extreme northern Alaska. Think about some college admissions officer perusing the following as you read this:

http://www.thearcticsounder.com/news/show/1431

Reid Magdanz, who graduated this May from Kotzebue High School, spent many hours perfecting his college essay this past fall. His narrative starts out with him chasing a classmate during cross-country practice last fall along Kotzebue’s dirt streets. But from the essay we learn more than just that, much more, about life in Arctic Alaska, but in only about 650 words. College essays typically have strict word limits. The trick is to say a lot with very few words, and that requires many revisions. A brief college essay often can mean the difference between acceptance or rejection at the college of one’s choice-or even whether a school offers significant financial support:

http://www.thearcticsounder.com/news/show/1668

Reid Magdanz has a best friend and constant companion in Kotzebue. His name is Donnie Neal. He also took this series of writing classes over three semesters at Chukchi College. This coming fall, Donnie will be attending Stanford University in California. His good buddy Reid was accepted there, too, but Reid turned Stanford down. Instead, he will major in environmental studies at Yale University in Connecticut this fall.

Other Kotzebue High School students who have participated in Chukchi Honors Program in recent years include Lois Miller, who will attend Montana State University this fall; Erin Nelson, who chose Northern Arizona University. Robert King will be attending college in the Philippines beginning this summer. Rachel Long completed several Chukchi courses before spending spring semester of her senior year at Kotzebue High School at Brigham Young University in Utah. Other Chukchi Honors students are already, or will be, attending UAF (Adrienne and Scott West) and UAA (Evan Creasap). From surrounding villages, Frank Ramoth of Selawik is attending UAA, where Kotzebue’s Elsa Johnson will be studying culinary arts this fall. Other Chukchi Honors students include Forrest Rose Walker, Viola Ballot, Donnie Jones, Chuck Jones, Chelsie Thomas and Oscar Walker of Buckland; Courtney Douglas of Ambler; Kathleen Skin of Selawik; Janelle Richards of Kiana.

Village Students Publish Stories in The Arctic Sounder
Village students Jackolyn McCoy of Selawik and Jaclynne Richards of Kiana have enrolled in several English classes through the Chukchi Honors Programs, including completing English 111 this May. They both did a superb job and are ready for college. Jack McCoy plans to attend UAA this fall and wants to become an English teacher. Jaclynne Richards will be a full-time student at UAF this fall with plans to study elementary education.

Here are samples of pieces Jack McCoy and Jaclynne Richards have published this year:

http://www.thearcticsounder.com/news/show/1039

http://www.thearcticsounder.com/news/show/935

http://thearcticsounder.com/news/show/1486

http://thearcticsounder.com/news/show/1940

Jack McCoy completed one final piece for publication through the Chukchi News and Information Service project. The Arctic Sounder plans to publish it by the end of May.

The Chukchi Honors Program and Chukchi News and Information Service are of course not solely responsible for these students’ success. Academic achievement begins almost at birth, with caring, loving parents guiding their children and modeling for them the importance of hard work, discipline, reading, writing, and education. Parents are the real heroes here for bringing their children up with a strong sense of responsibility and appropriate priorities in life. Of course, respected elders also play an important role for inspiration, wisdom and the example of a good life.

The local schools and educators also work hard to ensure that students receive the stimulation and encouragement to succeed. The University of Alaska is there simply to provide resources that might not otherwise be available locally.

Congratulations to all students, male and female, rural and urban, young and not so young, for all your success. During this 2008 commencement season, we wish all graduates the best of luck for a productive and satisfying future.

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