{"id":18633,"date":"2021-11-30T11:53:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T16:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=18633"},"modified":"2021-11-30T11:53:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T16:53:46","slug":"michael-ulroan-unique-program-puts-native-students-on-path-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/11\/30\/michael-ulroan-unique-program-puts-native-students-on-path-to-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Ulroan: Unique program puts Native students on path to success"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tANSEP makes the best students!\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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ANSEP students are the best because we grow them! Beginning in Kindergarten, we encourage our students to dream big and provide them with the tools and oppor…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program: ANSEP makes the best students!<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Higher education is failing Indigenous students, Alaska program models solution<\/div>\r\n
This sequential education model is placing Alaska Native students on a path to academic success.<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, November 30, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Michael Ulroan <\/div>\r\n
Senior Director of ANSEP Acceleration Academy <\/div>\r\n
ansep.net<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIndigenous students have been rendered virtually invisible in higher education. As an Alaska Native Cup\u2019ik from Chevak, and a once drastically under-prepared college student, I understand the challenges Indigenous students face and how to overcome them.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe 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.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAs 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.\r\n

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Michael Ulroan. Photo courtesy Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP)<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThere is a major lack of representation of Indigenous students in academic data, research and curricula. Of the data available from the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, Native American students make up only 1% of the U.S. undergraduate population. Here at the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program, we are working to change those statistics starting as early as kindergarten.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThere are several factors that contribute to the low enrollment of Native American students in higher education. Native students are more likely to attend high-poverty K-12 schools where there is a lack of academic opportunity and frequent turnover of educators, the cost of higher education is high and there is virtually no Native representation in the faculty on college campuses. Put together, this often results in Native students feeling as if they do not belong on a college campus and questioning whether they are even capable of completing a degree.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nANSEP focuses on inspiring students to collaboratively work hard in school early in their academic career and prepares them for higher education with fun, challenging, hands-on, interactive learning exercises and rigorous curricula. The program then guides them through school and provides opportunities along the way.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFor the past 27 years, ANSEP\u2019s sequential education model has been successfully making a difference in the lives of Alaska Native and other underrepresented students \u2014 including me. ANSEP offers STEM-focused components from kindergarten all the way through to a Ph.D. \r\n

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Meet Augustine Hamner! She graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Math from the UAA: University of Alaska Anchorage and is now pursuing a Master of…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nThe full-time Acceleration Academy and University Success components together offer a solution that can support Alaska Native and Native American students across the country. Acceleration Academy allows students to begin taking college courses on campus the moment they enter high school, making it seamless to go from high school to college. Then, University Success continues to offer the support students need to finish their degree once they are living independently on campus.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nStudents enrolled in Acceleration Academy complete their high school education while simultaneously earning free college credits. The component is offered in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and expanded to the Lower Kuskokwim School District in Bethel this past fall. Alaska Native students and others in these three cities and surrounding areas can apply for the component as early as the end of their eighth-grade year. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nWhen students spend all four years of high school in Acceleration Academy and graduate from the component, they begin college in junior or senior standing. By taking college courses the moment students enter high school, Acceleration Academy eliminates remedial coursework and helps students save on college costs. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nFour years in Acceleration Academy saves families $75,000 per student in University of Alaska college costs and the state saves nearly $40,000 per student, making it a win for both the government and Alaska families. We know these savings can impact our students in big ways. According to a Generation Progress and Center for American Progress report families spend $1.3 billion annually on remedial courses, which are eliminated through our component. And, beyond the monetary benefits, the program leads to a more educated and prepared workforce.\r\n

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