Left to right: Patuk Glenn, Kimberly Strong, Triena Slatter, Cheri Alstrom, John Henry, Malorie Johnson, Kelsey Wallace and Francisca Demoski

Cheri Alstrom

Pauline Boratko

Francisca Demoski  

Denali Whiting  

Johnny Stickman 

Left to right: Naomi Jones,  Sandra Madison, Kendra Nichols-Takak, Heather Hopson, Caroline (hoover) White, Denali Whiting, & Stephanie Moe

In April DANSRD held their last National Park Service Leadership Seminar in Fairbanks and Nenana. Nine graduate and undergraduate students attended the weeklong intensive seminar focused on "Research for Cultural Preservation". Students worked on their own research project and learned how to conduct archival, oral history, and Alaska Native Language Archival research. They visited the UAF museum ethnology, archaeology and Alaska Center for Documentary Film department; met with National Park Service Office staff and met with Denakkanaaga and Nenana elders. One evening event open to the public was the Gwich'in Caribou Anatomy and Verbal Art Event. Judith Ramos and Diane Benson and Rachel Mason and Rhea Hood (NPS Affiliated Faculty) were faculty for the seminar.

• Must have resided in one of the Coastal Village member communities for a minimum of 5 years
• Apply by June 1st
• www.coastalvillages.org  
   

FASFA due June 30, 2015

• https://fafsa.ed.gov/   

My name is Denali Quyanna Qapvik Whiting, from Kotzebue, Alaska. I graduated Cum Laude Spring 2015 with a BA in Alaska Native Studies (ANS) and an American Sign Language Minor. I am I�upiaq Eskimo, raised going to camp throughout the year with my grandparents, immersed in my culture, living a subsistence lifestyle.

While attending UAF, I won Miss Alaska Teen USA 2011. On campus, I served as Resident Assistant and Resident Director for the Eileen Panigeo MacLean House. I earned the Alaska Native Visionary Award at the 2012 Alaska Native Heritage Month celebration and the 2013 Tribal Youth of the Year from the Native Village of Kotzebue. I spoke on several panels: the Alaska Forum on the Environment (entitled "Success in College"), the 2013 AFN panel on Traditional Family Values, the 2014 Alaska Native Women Leaders panel at the Elizabeth Peratrovich celebration, and the Rural Student Services panel at the 2015 Alaska Native Studies Conference. I also represented the Caleb Scholars Program and presented on rural life for campus-wide RA trainings in 2013 and 2014.

UAF's Alaska Native Studies Program was the perfect fit for someone as enthusiastic and curious about their culture as I am. It was rewarding to research topics that benefitted my home community. I interviewed family members about growing up in camp, hunting, tanning sealskins, and rural leadership. It was hard to leave home in the fall, especially since fall is a busy subsistence season. In school, I studied and wrote about subsistence while my family and peers were actually hunting caribou and gathering blackberries. It was hard to miss out while I was away. However, I recognized the opportunity to learn more history and traditions of my culture at UAF than I might have in the village.

Studying folktales, sewing practices, Inupiaq tools, traditional social structures, Inupiaq spirituality, and taboos inspired me to focus on my culture every time I went home. Participating in subsistence and helping my family was important and I realized that a formal education could supplement this lifestyle. The ANS degree program offered many opportunities to connect with my home community and stay immersed in my culture even in a more formal environment. I knew my difficult journey would inspire my cousins and others at home to consider post-secondary education.

It is hard to leave home, especially when you come from a small tight-knit community, but the Rural Development and Alaska Native Studies programs gave me a home away from home. Now having graduated, I am ready to continue learning through doing. I recently wrote a paper about traditional ways of processing seals. This spring, I hope to go hunting and skin a seal the way my aana (grandmother) used to. I am also writing a book about growing up at camp and learning the I�upiaq Values. I would not be the I�upiaq woman I am today without UAF's Alaska Native Studies program.