FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska - Fifty-one students participating in the six-week Rural Alaska Honors Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will take the final step next week that marks the end of this summer's academic bridging program.

The popular summer program, founded in 1983, helps prepare rural Alaska Native and other high school students for college. Graduation ceremonies for RAHI students are set for July 9 in Room 201 of UAF's Natural Sciences Building at 1 p.m., followed by a public reception at the Wood Center upper terrace at 3 p.m.

At graduation, students will be formally recognized for their academic achievements. Heather Kendall-Miller, a UAF graduate and attorney who works with the Native American Rights Fund in Anchorage, is the keynote speaker. She has worked on several Native American Rights cases including the U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Indian Country.

RAHI features a high-powered, full university academic program focusing on writing research papers. The program also offers college courses in chemistry, study skills, business management, mathematics, Alaska Native studies and computers. Students can take additional courses in Alaska Native dance and swimming.

Each RAHI student will graduate next week with eight or more UAF credits for their efforts and start a university transcript toward bachelor's degree requirements.

"We wish to improve students' academic and study skills through a robust academic program, balancing this with a residence program that builds peer support and social skills that help students cope with the difficult transition from village to university," said RAHI program director Jim Kowalsky. "We emphasize and reinforce the need for each student to value and rejoice in his or her own culture and the other diverse Alaska Native cultures that are represented in the RAHI program."

Alaska Native cultures represented this summer include Tsimshian, Tlingit, Alutiiq, Sugpiaq, Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan, Central Yup'ik, Siberian Yup'ik, Inupiaq, Ahtna Athabaskan and Koyukon Athabaskan.

To attend, students must be college-bound juniors or seniors in high school with at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average. Ninety students applied this year for admission into the program.

RAHI was launched seventeen years ago at the urging of the Alaska Federation of Natives to help increase the opportunity for rural Alaska Native students to succeed in postsecondary education.

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