GeoFORCE Alaska to graduate first class

July 27, 2015

After four years of geologic learning adventures across the nation, 15 students from North Slope communities will graduate from GeoFORCE Alaska, a University of Alaska Fairbanks program for high school students.

The rising seniors will be the first class to graduate. Ceremonies will take place at the BP Energy Center in Anchorage on Friday, July 31, from 4 to 5 p.m. and be broadcast live via http://vod.uaf.edu/vod/geoforce2015/.

GeoFORCE Alaska aims to interest Alaska rural and minority students in the math and science fields by bringing them on a week-long geologic field trip for each of the four summers after eighth grade. UAF geosciences professors teach the program, and students learn geology at the college level.

Students hail from Nuiqsut, Kaktovik, Barrow and Wainwright. The free program is entirely funded through donations, with many sponsors representing Alaska industries that rely on the state's natural resources. One goal of the program is that students will pursue higher education in fields that lead them to careers in Alaska's high-tech workforce.

Photo by Colby Wright. Students in GeoFORCE Alaska pose for a group shot on their trip to the Pacific Northwest to study volcanoes. Purple shirts represent year three in the program.

"We need these students. They have diverse interests, opinions and perspectives that can help move science forward," said Sarah Fowell, a UAF associate professor of geology who directs GeoFORCE Alaska. "And students from the North Slope communities are uniquely qualified to make decisions that balance development with cultural and natural resources."

The graduation ceremony follows the students’ final geoadventure to the Rocky Mountains and includes the Yellowstone National Park. All together, students have visited more than 75 sites in Alaska and the Lower 48, including the Grand Canyon and Mount St. Helens.

UAF’s College of Natural Science and Mathematics’ Geosciences Department hosts the program, which is modeled after GeoFORCE Texas.

Student Monika Valdez said saying goodbye to GeoFORCE Alaska means saying hello to a future whose possibilities have been broadened because of the program.

“It’s been an amazing experience, and I’m just very happy to have done this,” she said. “It’s very sad that it’s ending, but I know I will do more adventures. I’ll go back to the places we went to and will know all about them.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Anne Rittgers, GeoFORCE Alaska program coordinator, 907-474-5313, awrittgers@alaska.edu

ON THE WEB: www.geoforce.alaska.edu, https://vimeo.com/129492268