Rural Alaska Honors Institute 1996 Summer Students Selected

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 1996

Fairbanks, Alaska - Forty-six junior and senior high school students from across Alaska will travel to the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus in late May to attend the 14th Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI). The students will enroll in a six-week session of UAF courses taught by RAHI staff. The students will earn up to nine college credits.

According to RAHI program director Jim Kowalsky, the institute's overall goal is to promote college success for rural students. Although RAHI is targeted at rural Alaska Native students, others may also apply. In addition to the full summer schedule of college courses, students will learn how to live and work comfortably and efficiently in the college campus and urban environment.

Students live in a campus residence hall and participate in a rigorous curriculum of writing and career specialty options. They will acquire study skills and time management habits, learn how to locate campus and community resources, be shown how to use informational technology like the Internet, and be exposed to the value of the various Alaska Native cultures represented within the RAHI student body. "We offer students the college experience ahead of time, while also serving as a bridge between the village and the campus," Kowalsky said. "Students are given a great deal of individualized help and encouragement as needed, and they have a great opportunity to form solid relationships with professors and staff."

The popular college bridging program is sponsored by the UAF College of Liberal Arts. This summer, six Alaska Native students who elect the three-credit RAHI Petroleum Engineering or the Introduction to Business Administration courses will each receive full scholarship program support through an Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. grant. A one-credit RAHI/UAF Alaska Native Dance course is supported by a Cook Inlet Region Inc. grant.

To be admitted to the program, students must participate in a competitive application process. This year, approximately 75 applications were received and reviewed. This year's class of students is listed below.

RAHI '96 Tentative Roster

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CONTACT: Jim Kowalsky at (907) 474-6886, fax (907) 474-5624, or e-mail at fyrahi@aurora.alaska.edu; Douglas Sigler, UAF University Relations at (907) 474-7581.

DLS/4-29-96/96-72