UAF Americorps VISTA Volunteer making a big impact in Fairbanks and beyond
January 12, 2012
Libby Miles, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in the Office of Admissions and the Registrar, is organizing several outreach projects in the community this semester.
In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. and Alaska Civil Rights Day Jan. 16, Miles
will lead a group of AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers in Fairbanks to spread the word about
federal financial aid and scholarships available to anyone interested in going to
college. Thousands of individuals in Fairbanks qualify for grants and scholarships
for higher education in and out of state, but many never apply.
Local businesses Safeway, Barnes & Noble and the Ft. Wainwright Commissary will host
VISTA volunteers who will stock tables all day with brochures about the Alaska College
Savings Plan, the FAFSA, scholarships for Alaskans, and upcoming workshops for families.
Miles will also be teaching an honors course this semester titled: "HONR 293—Introduction
to Tutoring in Grades 7 – 12." For 10 weeks, Jan. 23 – April 2, on Monday nights
the class will meet at the Honors House over hot cocoa to discuss leadership skills
and tutoring strategies. During the week they will tutor at the Effie Kokrine Charter
School. This program came about through a collaboration between Gary Laursen in the
Honors Program and the Effie Kokrine Chater School's Upward Bound program. The class
syllabus centers around the concept that courses which include service can provide
as much to the learner as they do to the community.
This fall, Miles started a pen pal program with fourth grade classes in Spanaway,
Wash. and Nome. UAF Student Ambassadors signed up to communicate about what college
life is like to future academicians in the two schools. The idea started with a request
from last year's fourth grade class from Spanaway. The class wrote to the Office of
Admissions and the Registrar and asked if they could "adopt UAF" for their "No Excuses
University" program.
As part of the program, the elementary students learned about UAF, the geography of
Alaska and the people of Fairbanks. They learned the university fight song, made UAF
t-shirts, and presented their adopted school to the other grades during an all-school
assembly. UAF signed up again this year to be Spanaway Elementary School's adopted
university. Miles visited the school during a recent visit to Washington. The pen
pal program helps link these students to the idea that college is possible. The students
from Spanaway come from an economically disadvantaged area and the "No Excuses University"
program was established as a national effort to show students that there are no excuses
for not going to college. The pen pal program will continue through the spring semester.
For more information contact Lael Oldmixon at lael.oldmixon@alaska.edu or 474-6679.