RURAL HONORS INSTITUTE NAMES SUMMER SCHOLARS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 1998

Fairbanks, Alaska - Forty-eight high school students from throughout the state will meet at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus May 30 to participate in the 16th annual Rural Alaska Honors Institute. RAHI, a popular summer college preparatory, academic enrichment and bridging program, has again set the pace by offering a four-credit college chemistry course and a new basketball skills camp to be taught by UAF Nanook men's coach Al Sokaitis.

RAHI broke new ground in 1991 when full UAF credit was incorporated for participating high school students for coursework completed in the program. RAHI students now earn from seven to nine UAF credit hours. Not only do students begin to build a university transcript, the credit hours they earn are applied toward a baccalaureate degree.

RAHI was first organized in 1982 to help college-bound rural Alaska Native students make the social and academic transition to an urban campus setting. The program's mission is to promote college success among a population who historically and presently are significantly underrepresented among all Alaskans who complete academic degrees, according to RAHI program director Jim Kowalsky.

"As we recruit and bring students to our campus, we see a great need to help them integrate into a campus social and academic environment in a culturally sensitive manner, and to challenge these students with rigorous academic course work in preparation for eventual college success," Kowalsky said. "Making the transition from village to campus can be very tough and we try to make that transition a little easier for them, a little more manageable," he said.

"We consider the addition of the new four-credit chemistry elective as a big step, but I'm convinced that we have students who are capable and willing to take on this new challenge," Kowalsky said.

He also says that RAHI recruitment generally misses high school scholar-athletes. "We're trying to get their attention," he said of the new basketball addition.

"This is an attempt to also draw them into the college prep experience that RAHI offers," he said. Participation in the three-day basketball camp which follows the traditional RAHI graduation on July 10 is optional to those who successfully complete the academic portion of the RAHI program. Only those RAHI men and women who finish the program in good academic standing will be eligible to participate in the camp.

RAHI's curriculum focuses on research writing and study skills with electives in business management, mathematics, rural development and the new chemistry offering. Courses are taught by UAF professors. Students round out their academic coursework with choices in Alaska Native dance or swimming and an optional computer-Internet course, all complimented with a program of culturally based activities and recreational pursuits.

Nearly 90 applicants competed for this summer's invitation to join the program. Those selected to attend participate on a full scholarship worth more than $5,000 each. Students live together on the campus with a residence staff who provide tutoring and other support and encouragement to see that students successfully complete the program.

"We purposely raise the gate to make our students stretch even higher; they get a little uncomfortable at times, but we have a very supportive and nurturing environment," Kowalsky said. "When it's over and students realize they actually made it, the confidence and self-esteem go way up and so does the idea that college success is a very real possibility," he said.

The academic program concludes with a Friday, July 10 formal cap and gown ceremony at 1 p.m. on the UAF campus at the Natural Sciences Building. The keynote speaker will be Sandra Erlich Kowalski of Kotzebue, an Inupiaq educator and parent who is also RAHI's first valedictorian in 1983. The public is invited.

For more information, call RAHI toll-free at 1-800-478-6886 or visit the RAHI web page at <http://www.uaf.edu/rahi/>

NOTE TO EDITORS: A complete list of 1998 RAHI participants is attached.

CONTACT: RAHI Program Director Jim Kowalsky 1-(800)478-6886 or (907) 474-6886, or by email: fyrahi@aurora.alaska.edu

DPD/5-19-98/98-064