Sophia Palomar just graduated high school in May of 2020. A great accomplishment on its own, but for her, that was only part of it. She also completed the PWSC’s Certified Nursing Aide (CNA) course and passed her exam. Now she is working, along with her father, as a CNA at Providence Valdez Extended Care Center.
As part of a creative writing class, Dr. Dennis Humphrey and his class collaborated to create a collection of fairy tales with Alaskan connections. He then edited the collection and published it through Amazon's self-publishing website, KDP, and plans to repeat this process in the fall (with a science-fiction theme).
Not only does Joe get to see the wonders of the park, but he gets to live and explore among the Wrangell Mountains for three months while he participates in the internship. While mapping trail conditions, Joe spent five days camping in the park where he was able to put a few of his PWSC outdoor courses to use.
Finding good and affordable childcare and having the tools to ensure that care promotes their children’s physical and intellectual development, can be difficult for many working parents, and Valdez, Alaska, is no exception. Understanding this challenge, PWSC’s Dr. Teresa Barton and Megan Gunderson are working on a program to create, as Megan puts it, “a wider network of childcare in Valdez,” and to establish workshops and classes that focus on promoting children’s “physical and intellectual development.” To this end, they’ve created the Early Childhood Development Project.
PWSC student Matthew Shiffner is happy to be in his element working as an intern with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Glennallen Field Office (GFO). Recently we caught up with him and BLM’s Outdoor Recreation Planner Jan Miller.
PWSC is excited to have Anthony Gerasch Jr. join the college team and begin building a new marine service technology program. Gerasch brings an incredible amount of expertise with him, and we recently had the opportunity to find out more about his background, his abundant enthusiasm for living in Alaska, and his plans for the marine tech program.
Having lived here in Alaska for most of his life, Jay has spent the last five years working at PWSC. Jay works as an administrative assistant for academics. When he isn’t working at the college, one of his passions and favorite hobbies is theatre,
Having come back to Alaska during COVID-19, Joe Kay had to spend his first two weeks in quarantine before beginning his internship at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (NPS).
Eric Filardi, a teacher who participated in the Alaska Tech Learners grant program, teaches at a residential school in Nenana, Alaska. His school has nearly 200 students, half of whom are from Alaskan villages across the state.
Dawson Moore has worked for PWSC since 2003. Over the years he has served in many different roles and has made many significant contributions. Now his job is primarily to serve as the coordinator of the Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Moore’s involvement in the conference started long ago.
