Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

April 20, 2002 - Issue 59

Conference Inspires Students

Two days into a student leadership conference, 16-year-old Timothy Snowball from St. Michael had mustered up the courage to do what many people fear most: speak in front of his peers.

His experience as emcee for the conference's talent show taught him "to make myself go out there and speak in front of my students, to make myself more clear, to make myself known."

Around 250 high school students came to the Alaska Native Heritage Center on Monday for a three-day student leadership conference. About half were from Anchorage schools, and the other half from rural towns like Eyak, Wales and Quinhagak. The conference included workshops and keynote speakers.

The first day's speaker, Howard Rainer, from Brigham Young University's Native American Educational Outreach programs, inspired Timothy the most.

His reserve fading as he spoke Wednesday, Timothy said Rainer helped him stretch his mind and strive to be more of a leader for his school.

Joanne Pootoogooluk, 17, of Shishmaref High School, said speakers taught her to take charge and have more confidence.

"They give you that encouragement. They make you feel like you can do anything you want," she said.

Timothy and Joanne, both from the Bering Straits School District, and another student from Wales, were brought to the conference "because you could see the spark there," said their chaperone, Bea Stough.

Stough said in villages where the norm is to be reserved, the students are learning "how you can lead in a quiet way, how you can change others' lives."

Walter Northway School brought nine of its 11 high school students.

It's been a tough year for Northway, a village 50 miles southeast of Tok, said teacher Mike Cronk. Many students have been failing classes, and the school had to cancel the basketball season because not enough students had the grades to play, he said.

So the school looked at the conference as a way to give the students a break.

"Maybe they'll refocus," Cronk said. "You're always hoping."

And over the three days of workshops and featured speakers, Cronk has seen some students blossom.

For instance, 14-year-old Glen Marunde, was chosen for a group that required him to tell everyone why he was there. The eighth-grader said he was nervous but "I just did it. Once I got up there, it was easier than I thought."

Cronk added, "If our goal was to have one kid get out of here with something, I think we've met that goal. ... You can only hope something like this will make a difference in their lives."

The conference was sponsored by the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., the Alaska Humanities Forum, the First Alaskans Foundation and the Multicultural Student Leadership Conference Committee.

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