Bering Sea Campus and Research Center

At the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center, we are committed to increasing access to educational resources and job opportunities. Our solution includes creating spaces that offer technological resources including a computer lab and improved internet availability. We inform and engage community members about educational, enrichment and employment opportunities, host themed events such as high school, game, or paint nights, and create Youtube videos to showcase events. Through partnerships with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol Bay Campus and Iḷisaġvik College, we offer degree and certification pathways for students, bringing post-secondary education student support and instruction into the community via direct instruction or distance delivery. This solution can positively change lives if it was scaled to other communities by giving them a chance to pursue their dreams, and accomplish their goals whether it may be educational, or getting a job in the field that would be best fit for themselves.

One major challenge we face today, due to geographic isolation, a dwindling population and decreasing public education funding is limited access to educational resources and opportunities. This results in a lack of college preparatory classes, resources and decreased high school graduation rates. Fewer students pursue higher education opportunities. The Pribilof School District (our local school district) has demonstrated significant deficiencies in academic performance (PEAK evaluation test scores found at Alaska.gov). The PEAK assessment showed that only 7.5% of PSD students are proficient in mathematics, 20% proficient in English Arts, and 11% proficient in science. These averages are well below the averages for Alaskan K-12 students. By increasing access to educational resources at BSCRC, we can overcome this issue and help make education and knowledge more accessible for our community overall. For example, there are many internships, scholarships, and financial aid our community can access using our computer lab and improved internet availability. At the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center we are creating a space where people can access technology, visit with campus staff to receive help and guidance, and complete those tasks that bring them closer to achieving their goals.

The Bering Sea Campus and Research Center believes that technology is part of the solution to helping our community access educational opportunities, build knowledge and skills, and create fulfilling and successful futures. We offer a computer lab in which users can access programs like Microsoft Office, Adobe, and Zoom. We have a collection of specialized audio/visual equipment used to create videos, take pictures, and record audio. With this technology, kids can foster positive creativity, and tell their own stories to the world. We recently purchased a 3D printer so students can learn how to design 3D printed objects, providing another creative outlet. We believe that technology is not just a tool, it can also give people a creative edge to their voices, ideas and stories. Therefore, technology does not only bring us together as a community, it also shapes a promising future and creates opportunities to come. Finally, partnerships are critical to our success: we partner with other St. Paul Island entities to provide classroom space for employee training and develop educational programs, and with educational institutions such as the University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol Bay Campus and Iḷisaġvik College which offer degree and certification pathways.

St. Paul Island, Alaska is the home of the largest Aleut (Unangan) community in the world. We have endured historical traumas during which our natural proclivity towards endurance and resilience has shaped us into a strong, culturally-centered community whose goals relate to the future of our children and our tribe. In the past, the community came together to provide support and make positive change as one. We have endured so many challenges, and we continue to strive for change and a brighter future. For example, in 1942, the Alaska Native communities of the Aleutian Islands were evacuated to Funter Bay, located in Southeast Alaska, an unfamiliar region. The Aleut people left all of their possessions in their homes. At the internment camp, they had no church, no school, no medical facility, no store, no community facility, no skiffs, no fishing gear, and no hunting rifles. They were forced to abandon their homes and live in horrible crowded conditions. Many people died because of illness, and they endured the poor treatment at the hands of the U.S. Government. There were no proper warm clothes that they could use, the camp food was poor, and the water tainted. To commemorate this life changing event, each year people on Saint Paul Island take a walk to East Landing (the site at which the government boats docked to take people away from St. Paul Island) as a community to remember those who have passed tragically. After that takes place, the community has an annual softball tournament to remember those who had to endure such conditions in the past, as this has been a favorite pastime for many. This brings people together as a community, and we are trying to do the same with technology here at the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center. 

College and career readiness training stands as an opportunity to train our children and young adults for new opportunities in an evolving economy, especially one that heavily relies on technological development and innovation. BSCRC helps address this need by providing our students with resources to build pre-college skills. As they progress, different vocational and post-secondary educational and economic opportunities arise helping to diversify our economy. Some of the jobs our students will fill are roles which are currently filled by individuals or contractors from outside of the community; replacing this class of worker will help to sustain the local economy further and ensure that our tribal members are gainfully employed in fulfilling careers. Increasing the number of students capable of post-secondary achievement, and providing resources to students from disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, we increase the potential skill and degreed labor pool within the community and within future generations. BSCRC helps reduce outmigration, through building capable and enriching educational and economic opportunities. Community members can schedule appointments in our computer lab and access the internet for educational purposes, participate in distant delivered online classes, and access computer programs like Microsoft Office, Adobe, Zoom, and many others. They can also seek financial aid, perform job searches, create resumes, complete online applications for jobs and scholarships, and anything else related to fulfilling their educational needs. 

We want to expand our horizons, and create more program options so that we can continue making education, training, and employment opportunities more accessible to the community. In response to the continued success of the Tribal Government of Saint Paul Island educational and enrichment programs within the community, we are requesting the continued support of these positions to provide them with professional development through the SOLVE Fellowship. We need to bring the community together, and provide as many opportunities as possible for the youth, and implement knowledge as a team. With our space being available, people can pursue their dreams wherever it may take them. By overcoming these certain challenges, the Bering Sea Campus needs to create a bigger team, and to promote more opportunities, and educational training to the community using technology as a part of our solution.

The Bering Sea Campus and Research Center is the educational arm of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government, its development is driven by community members, making it truly Native-led. Our problem, solution, and target population is well-aligned to the Fellowship and selected dimension because we are using technology to increase access to development opportunities. We aired on the local radio station for the community to schedule appointments to work with the campus staff, and to guide them to fulfill their educational demands. We are also supporting language and cultural revitalization, first-generation college students, and quality K-12 education. 

While creating a campus space that allows a community access to educational and workforce development opportunities through a computer lab and improved internet access may not seem unique or innovative, it is a unique and creative solution for the issues the St. Paul Island community faces in these times. For so long, the St. Paul Island economy relied on fishing industry to carry it from one year to the next, and many people could find employment either through the fishing industry or directly on St. Paul Island as part of the education system, tribal or municipal government. However, as the fishing industry in the Bering Sea region faces year and year of uncertainty and decreasing fish and crab populations, the St. Paul Island economy can no longer depend solely on fisheries to survive. We need a well-educated populace to bring innovation and creative solutions into the community to ensure its long-term survival and resilience. However, educational resources are limited on St. Paul Island itself as Alaska has continuously decreased its public education funding over many years and students have been compelled to leave their homes to seek both high school and higher education opportunities. Once those students have left St. Paul Island, the likelihood of their return to be contributing members to the economy drops drastically. The Bering Sea Campus and Research Center seeks to bring educational opportunities directly to St. Paul Island such that youth no longer feel forced to leave their home to pursue their dreams and careers. 

Our main technological solution for the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center is a computer lab with improved internet access - this helps us close the digital divide that so many community members face in their homes, restricting their access to educational and workforce development opportunities. 

The University of Alaska system has been using the internet to provide distance delivery education to many remote communities in Alaska. We hope to continue the success of their distance delivery programs in our space.

As we are still a pilot program, we have not fully developed our theory of change for the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center, but we believe that increasing access to education and workforce development opportunities within the St. Paul Island community will mean increased access to knowledge, skills and creative outlets that will result in improved test scores and grades at K-12 levels, increased high school retention and graduation rates, increased numbers of students applying to post-secondary degree and certificate programs and ultimately more community members that can contribute to the St. Paul Island community through finding innovate solutions to diversify the economy and create a thriving healthy environment for future generations. 

Current number of people served: approximately 400

Number serving in one year: 1000

Number serving in 5 years: 5000-10000 (programs extended to other Alaska Native communities)

Goals for next year

• Continue developing college and career readiness curriculum for St. Paul Island students
• Offer more college-level courses taught by community members, such that we reinforce the notion that our community is blessed with a wealth of knowledge and is capable of sharing it 
• Have more students enrolled in college-level distance delivery courses
• Have more students and community members utilize campus resources to apply for job and scholarship opportunities
• Improve our tracking of student use
• Offer personalized tutoring for younger students
• Continue applying for grants

Goals for next 5 years

• Make college and career readiness curriculum available to other Alaska Native communities
• Increase the number of community members hired as instructors, and assist them in transferring their course materials to an online space 
• Improved standardized test scores for students at the St. Paul Island School
• Increase the number of students graduating high school
• Increase the number of students applying for degree programs and completing these programs in their entirety
• Continued tutoring
• Continued grant applications plus long-term sustainable funding

Achieving these goals is only possible through the continued dedication of our Bering Sea Campus and Research Center staff. They are constantly learning and growing, and finding new and unique methods in which to engage various members of the community. They are the means through which we accomplish our goals, therefore, continued professional development through a SOLVE Fellowship will ensure their growth and commitment to the mission and vision of the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center.

Barriers next year

• Financial: continued grant funding to support our staff and programs
• Technical: constant need to improve internet (while it is good at campus it can always be better)
• Cultural: restrictions on coming together as larger groups due to Covid

Barriers in 5 years

• Financial: creating a way to have continued, long-term funding flowing into the campus instead of relying on 3-5 year grant cycles
• Technical: upgrading computer equipment and adding other technologies such as more 3D printers, laser cutters, and professional grade audio/visual equipment
• Legal: seeking to create a tribal compact with the local school district so that we can further contribute to educational development of our youth
• Cultural: finding more ways to bridge the preservation of cultural heritage with current technologies
• Market: seeking high quality educators and contractors to assist with bringing in-person training and instruction directly to St. Paul Island

Financial barriers: we plan to address this barrier by continuously seeking grant funding and building an enterprise component where we contract with other entities to deliver specific services such as providing lab and teaching spaces or creating educational videos.

Technical barriers: the Department of Business and Economic Development within the Tribal Government is tasked with improving internet access for all departments, and we work with them to address these barriers.

Legal barriers: the Tribal Government's lawyer will provide guidance when we are ready to seek a tribal compact with the school district.

Market barriers: we are working to expand our network of collaborators, particularly with educators at other Tribal Education institutions and researchers that are interested in working with the St. Paul Island community.

The Bering Sea Campus and Research Center is the educational arm of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government.

Full-time staff: 6

Part-time staff: 6

Contractors: 3

Veronica Padula, the Academic Program Director, has a background in STEM education and is well versed in making educational opportunities available to broad populations of students.

Ethan Candyfire, the Campus Operations Manager, also had a background in education and is well-connected to youth in the St. Paul Island community.

Our contractors are specialists in education and curriculum development.

We are partnered with the Pribilof School District, University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol Bay Campus, University of Alaska Anchorage, and we hope to partner with more educational institutions in the future.

Our path to financial stability currently relies on grant funding (federal and private) but we would like to find a way to develop long-term sustainable funding that does not rely on grants that eventually run out. We believe that we can offer services to other entities in the future, such as space and video creation, but are only just starting to consider this as an option.

We believe that professional development and partnership development from the SOLVE community will help us better create a long-term model of sustainability and success for the Bering Sea Campus and Research Center. Our staff is dedicated to growth and learning within themselves in order to better serve the St. Paul Island community.

We would like to partner with those that can offer professional development and guidance on long-term sustainability.

We would like to partner with educational institutions, particularly those that serve minorities.