UAF commencement highlights

Submitted by LJ Evans
Phone: (907) 474-6479
05/06/04

The University of Alaska Fairbanks expects to confer 1,056 degrees to 996 students during its 82nd commencement on Sunday, May 9, 2004 at the Carlson Center. The following profiles of a few graduates reflect the diversity and excellence of the 2004 graduating class.

Engineering grad blends traditional lifestyle with systems engineering

Lee DeWilde, this year’s student commencement speaker and winner of the Provost’s Prize, is the fifth of 14 children raised near Huslia on the Koyokuk River, 250 miles west of Fairbanks. He, along with eight brothers and five sisters, was homeschooled, first at the family’s Yukon River fish camp and later at the Huslia homestead. He spent most of his first 26 years living a traditional Alaska subsistence lifestyle. After completing a certificate in aviation maintenance at the University of Alaska Anchorage, he worked as an aircraft mechanic for 10 years, earning an associate of applied science degree in aviation maintenance at UAF along the way.

An old-timer at the air service where he was working brought a mechanical enginering textbook to work one day so the mechanics could use the book’s mathematical tables, but none of the employees had the background to apply the equations. DeWilde wanted to better understand the aircraft he was maintaining--the structural loads, alloys, forces and strains involved. Puzzling over the engineering textbook inspired him to head back to school.

DeWilde will graduate with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. After working as an intern the last three summers with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., this January he accepted a full-time job at Alyeska in systems engineering where he performs hydraulic and structural analyses in support of large projects.

He and his wife, Lilly, have four children ages 4-16. Each summer they drive a riverboat down the Yukon to the family fish camp near Galena, where the kids enjoy the outdoors and the family catches the year’s supply of fish.

Contact: Lee DeWilde at (907) 460-5504 or e-mail fslrd1@uaf.edu.

Rx for success in aspiring toward a medical career

Deborah Cynar really likes a hands-on approach. She wanted to pursue a medical career but found the idea of being a doctor or a nurse not exactly her cup of tea. After talking with Cynar about her interests, Allied Health Assistant Professor Marsha Sousa suggested she look into a career as a physician assistant. After checking it out, Cynar knew this was the perfect fit for her, and she put together a bachelor’s degree program at UAF to help reach her goal. She will graduate with double degrees in biological sciences and sociology, and hopes to apply for physician assistant programs within the next year.

Cynar has been a peer advisor in the Academic Advising Center, helping other students line up semester schedules, design their degree plans and decide on majors. She revived and restarted--and is the president of--Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociology honor society, and is also an active member of Beta Beta Beta, the biology honor society.

Last year Cynar had a summer job as an assistant instructor for veterinary medicine in the Alaska Summer Research Academy (ASRA), a 10-day program introducing Alaska high school students to college-level science subjects such as chemistry, robotics, marine biology and forensics. She helped high school students identify all the muscles and organs on various models, visit behind the scenes at local vet clinics and conduct blood chemistry analyses. When ASRA coordinators were lining up instructors for this year, they found themselves without someone to assist in the aviation unit. Cynar immediately said, "I can do that!" The coordinator was skeptical until she learned that prior to coming to UAF, Cynar served six years with the U.S. Army as a helicopter mechanic at Ft. Wainwright and Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Contact: Deborah Cynar at (907) 356-1862 or e-mail fsdjc1@uaf.edu.

Ups and downs the norm for hall advisor

Being a resident assistant in a college residence hall definitely has its ups and downs. Aaron Helmericks remembers some challenging moments in the middle of the night when he was asleep in a warm bed and the temperature outside was 30 below zero. Whatever the problem, he was responsible for the safety and security of the students in his assigned area. During the holidays last winter, he organized and coordinated more than 20 volunteer drivers to run the Nanook Express, a shuttle service which delivered almost 400 students to the airport before the holidays and met every incoming flight at the end of the break to provide returning students with a safe ride back to campus.

Helmericks learned about self-sufficiency and responsibility early, while growing up with his three brothers on a homestead 60 miles west of Prudhoe Bay. He’s the third son to graduate from UAF, following in the footsteps of older brothers and engineering majors Derek and Jay. The homestead, established on the Colville River Delta in 1948 by Helmericks’ grandparents Bud and Martha Helmericks, is located in the most active bird nesting area on the North Slope. The family developed a successful business guiding environmentally oriented arctic tours through the area. Although all the Helmericks children were homeschooled in the Alaska bush, they’ve never felt isolated because hundreds of people from all over the world have spent time with their family, opening up vistas to other cultures and customs. Helmericks is looking forward to two months of travel in New Zealand after graduation, backpacking through the countryside and visiting friends.

Helmericks will graduate with honors with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He received the $20,000 Wal-Mart Competitive Edge scholarship.

Contact: Aaron Helmericks at (907) 455-3852 or e-mail ftawh@uaf.edu.

Lifelong learner has the next degree in sight

Karen Wood is a shining example of lifelong learning. With completion of a bachelor of arts degree in social work and an associate of applied science degree in human services at UAF, she will have finished four degrees in the nine years since she began taking college courses at age 54. Growing up in a small community in Iowa, Wood wasn’t encouraged to pursue higher education, so she ended up doing clerical work and waitressing. Over the years, she parlayed her skills into greater responsibility until she was running concrete plants and was the first woman to serve on the board of the Colorado Construction Association.

Her youngest son was the first in their extended family to go to college. She followed him and started work on a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, concentrating on women’s issues. After her son transferred to UAF, she decided she liked Fairbanks so much she also came north on a National Student Exchange in 1997.

After learning more about the community, she felt that awareness of issues related to aging in Alaska were below par compared with what she’d seen in other states. Determined to do something about it, she went back to Colorado and completed a master of arts in gerontology so she could work effectively in the field of aging services. She returned to Fairbanks and organized friends and colleagues to start the Interior Community Aging Network (ICAN), an all-volunteer senior non-profit information and referral center. Still feeling the need to expand her skills, she decided to pursue a social work degree, which will enable her to better serve seniors in the community. Throughout these years, she has worked full time while carrying a full load of classes. Wood’s academic career reflects her conviction that as people grow older, one of the healthiest things they can do to stay mentally alert is continue to learn new things and tackle new challenges. With that in mind, she plans to begin work on a master’s degree in community psychology at UAF this fall.

Contact: Karen Wood at (907) 474-2121 or e-mail karenwood@mosquitonet.com.

Youth no barrier to youngest grad

There’s no shortage of 18-year-olds graduating from high school this May, but chances are there are very few who are graduating from high school and college. That’s exactly what Katie Dexter will be doing. Dexter will be one of the graduates on stage at the UAF commencement ceremony May 9, where she will receive her associate of arts degree from the UAF Tanana Valley Campus. Almost three weeks later, she will receive her high school diploma through the homeschool-based Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA) program--using the same university credits she used to receive her TVC degree.

Dexter made the decision to transfer from West Valley High School to the IDEA program her sophomore year in order to pursue the dual credit option.

"I didn’t have any incentive to go to class at high school, but at UAF I had a reason to go," said Dexter. "I was going to get my associate degree when the people I went to high school with were just getting their diplomas."

The road to her degree was not without its challenges, and Dexter says not everyone she met thought a 15-year-old could handle the rigors of college. One of the best parts of her experience has been proving everyone wrong who said she couldn’t do it just because she was so young.

With a college degree safely under her belt at such a young age, Dexter plans to enjoy life before plunging any further into higher education.

"I want to go out of state and spread my wings, see what else is waiting out in the world for me," she said.

Contact: Katie Dexter at (907) 474-9490 or e-mail fskbd@uaf.edu.

LJE/5-06-04/073-04