Credit Michael Ulroan / ANSEP
The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, or ANSEP, is collaborating with the Lower Kuskokwim School District and University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kuskokwim Campus to create a permanent Acceleration Academy at Bethel Regional High School. Enrollment for the program, which enables students to study college classes while in high school, is open now. Michael Ulroan, with ANSEP, said that the program could save as much as $75,000 in college costs for students.
“You’re getting a high school diploma and making your way to a bachelor’s degree at the same time,” explained Ulroan. “Students can earn a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering, or anything that they want, one year after graduating from high school. That’s five years from the end of 8th grade to earning a bachelor’s degree.”
Presented by ANSEP It’s a “many-faceted quagmire,” said Deputy Commissioner of Education and Early Development Karen Melin, but it’s not insurmountable. “I strongly believe that the students and the young people across this state are every bit as capable and intelligent and innovative as any group of students across the country,” Melin said. And innovation, some Alaska educators say, is exactly what it will take for the state to start helping more students get on the path to education and career opportunity and stay on it.
Starting college already behind Michael Ulroan is passionate about helping Alaska students prepare for college for one very personal reason: He’s been in their shoes.
Presented by ANSEP Like lots of kindergarteners, Debra Lane-Hayes had a big idea about what she wanted to be when she grew up: a dentist. Now 16 years old, Lane-Hayes still has the same dream and she’s on pace to achieve it years ahead of schedule. Not even old enough to see an R-rated movie, last spring Lane-Hayes graduated from high school with more than two years of college credits already on her transcript, at no cost to her family. She’s currently on track to graduate from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences when she’s 18 the age when most students are earning their high school diplomas.