Indianz.Com > News > Michael Ulroan: Unique program puts Native students on path to success
Higher education is failing Indigenous students, Alaska program models solution
This sequential education model is placing Alaska Native students on a path to academic success.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Senior Director of ANSEP Acceleration Academy
Indigenous students have been rendered virtually invisible in higher education. As an Alaska Native Cup’ik from Chevak, and a once drastically under-prepared college student, I understand the challenges Indigenous students face and how to overcome them.
The future of our nation lies in the proper education of our youth. All of our youth. Why, then, are Indigenous students and their academic needs being neglected? As we celebrate Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month, we should not only be honoring the cultural traditions and contributions of America’s Indigenous people, but we should also be asking ourselves how education can be more responsive to the values, needs and perspectives of Indigenous students.
As an undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, I began my first semester taking the lowest level of math and English though I had completed advanced English and pre-calculus in high school. I repeatedly failed my college courses but not for a lack of trying. Many Indigenous students, including myself, grow up in small, rural villages so the culture shock of transitioning from our village to living on a college campus is rattling.
@ansep_ak The Alaska Native Science & Engineering prepares Alaska’s students for STEM careers… and we have fun along the way. 😊 ##Alaska ##STEM ##AlaskaNative
♬ sonido original – mayu
Michael Ulroan serves as Senior Director of the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) Acceleration Academy. ANSEP’s objective is to effect systemic change in the hiring patterns of Alaska Natives in science and engineering by placing our students on a career path to leadership.
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