After three summers, GeoFORCE Alaska students graduate

June 26, 2023

Twenty-six rural Alaska high school students graduated from the GeoFORCE Alaska program on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at the Loussac Library's Wilda Marston Theatre in Anchorage.

The students came from 17 communities off the road system in the Northwest Arctic, North Slope and Interior regions of the state. Participants have studied glaciers, volcanoes, waterfalls and more in seven states over the past three years, visiting landmarks like Denali National Park, the Grand Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument, Mount St. Helens and Yellowstone National Park.

GeoFORCE Alaska students are recruited after eighth or ninth grade and typically spend two weeks studying geology each summer for four years. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled this cohort's first summer, so the program was condensed into three summers. These students are the program's third cohort. Recruitment for the next cohort begins this fall.

The GeoFORCE program is entirely sponsor-supported and aims to raise high school graduation rates in rural Alaska; encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math majors in college; and increase the number and diversity of Alaska residents entering Alaska’s technical workforce. Visit the GeoFORCE Alaska website for more information.