T3 Alliance Kickoffs of the New School Year

What do you get when you bring rural Alaska high school students, university researchers and an Arctic science festival together? Inspiration and impact.

Over Labor Day weekend, 25 students and teachers from 10 T3 Alliance communities around Alaska attended a three-day training at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The event coincided with the first annual Arctic Fest and provided opportunities for education and enrichment. 

The T3 (teaching through technology) Alliance program provides educators with the skills and resources needed to facilitate a T3 program in their own communities.  Each site in the Alaska T3 Program has a local coach, a makerspace, access to a curriculum that correlates to dual credit opportunities provided through the Alaska Advantage program, and access to a network of support within their communities and around Alaska.  

The UAF Makerspace, established in 2021 in the Duckering Building, is a central location to coordinate training opportunities for summer program opportunities and support during the academic year for T3 sites around Alaska.

There are currently 13 T3 Alliance sites in Alaska.  Most of these sites are supported by the UAF Upward Bound program, and research partners such as ACEP through the Alaska Regional Collaboration for Technology Innovation and Commercialization (ARCTIC) program, supported by the Office of Naval Research. 

 

Cordova High School student Arianna Ryan works on a 3D printed ‘maker coin’ to demonstrate her 3D modeling skills and earn her 3D printing badge during the T3 event. Photo by Adam Low.