ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) have announced a $1.5 million grant to the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP). The funds will support ANSEP’s wide range of proven STEM education components and give the organization an opportunity to reach more students in the AVCP region.  

“One of our organization’s key priorities is to ensure that Alaska Native youth have access to the educational foundation necessary to be prepared for college and careers,” said AVCP President Mike Hoffman. “We are confident that this investment in ANSEP will help more of our region’s young people gain the necessary skills to contribute in a meaningful way to Alaska and to our region for many years to come.”

The $1.5-million from AVCP, which will be broken into three $500,000 installments over the next three years, will provide support for every level of ANSEP’s longitudinal model. The multi-stage model begins as early as middle school and continues into high school, college and even the graduate and doctoral levels. ANSEP also works with students to ensure they participate in internships and engage with industry leaders to learn what it takes to be successful not only in the classroom but in the workplace. [xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]

“Bringing on AVCP as a partner will allow us to dramatically expand our reach in the AVCP region,” said ANSEP Founder and Vice Provost Dr. Herb Ilisaurri Schroeder. “This means more students from the Yukon-Kuskowim Delta region will arrive academically and socially prepared for the challenges presented by going to college, and they will have access to the support they need to graduate. More college graduates means that more professional positions in the region will be filled by Southwest Alaska people, and they will have a seat at the table when decisions are made about the resources on the land they have cared for over the last 10,000 years.” 

It is the unique model that ANSEP uses – continuous engagement with students at each point of their educational careers – that makes the program so successful. There are nearly 2,000 students in the ANSEP pipeline from sixth grade through the PhD. The Urban Institute has found that ANSEP students far exceed national academic averages at every level.

To learn more about ANSEP and its components, visit www.ANSEP.net.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adversal-468×60″]

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