By Stephanie Hinz, Education & Indigenous Learning Manager
The Education Summit is a region-wide forum for representatives from Tribal communities, urban and rural school districts, postsecondary institutions and legislators to come together to discuss educational issues of mutual concern.
This year’s event included over 70 representatives from multiple Tribes, six of the seven school districts in the TCC region, instructors and staff from University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), the Fairbanks Native Association, the Alaska Association of School Boards, and the Alaska Humanities Forum, as well as members of the Fairbanks community.
Presenters spoke on topics, including Tribal compacting of education, the impacts of the boarding school era, programming for student success, teacher recruitment & retention issues, and various programs available to communities and Tribes.
Attendees were treated to special performances by the Dene Eslaanh’ Dance Group and an Alaska Native games demonstration by World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO) competitors, Amber Vaska and Leah Evans on Tuesday night. The event also featured a special presentation from students from Effie Kokrine Charter School on their moose hide tanning projects.
For resources from the summit, visit https://www.tananachiefs.org/2024-education-summit-resources/
