GeoFORCE Alaska 2021 Annual Report

Annual Report 2021 Creating STEM opportunities for students from rural Alaska

907.712.7540 geoforce@alaska.edu

P.O. Box 755490 Fairbanks, AK 99775

mission

Our is to: • Raise high school graduation rates in rural Alaska.

• Encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors in college.

• Increase the number and diversity of Alaska residents entering the technical workforce.

GeoFORCE Classroom: Spencer Lake, Spencer Glacier

GeoFORCE Alaska Annual Report 2021 Mission 1 Contents

2

Welcome

3-4

2021 Staff

5

A Note About COVID-19

6

What 7 Why 8 Who

9-10

How 11-12 First-Year Academy 13-14 Where

15-16

Second-Year Academy

17-18

Financial Report

19-20

Thanks to Our Sponsors

21-22

All non-captioned photos courtesy GeoFORCE Alaska

from the director

Sarah Fowell, Ph.D., Professor, UAF Department of Geosciences Dear Sponsors, Students, Parents, and Friends, GeoFORCE Alaska was able to welcome a new cohort and expand the region served during the summer of 2021, resuming activities that had been put on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic. Following submission of a detailed COVID-19 mitigation plan, 35 students participated in the First-Year Alaska Academy. In order to protect students, communities, and staff from the virus, we conducted three smaller, regional Academies for students from Interior, North Slope, and Northwest Arctic communities.

This is the first time that Interior students have had the opportunity to participate in the GeoFORCE program, and I am grateful to all those who facilitated the virtual recruiting process during spring 2021. Thanks are due to Doyon employees who contacted schools and distributed fliers; school teachers, administrators, and staff who promoted the program, wrote recommendations, and assisted students with applications; parents who filled out numerous waivers and permission forms; GeoFORCE staff who organized logistics and mentored students during three back-to-back Academies; and most of all the participants, who pushed themselves academically, physically, and socially.

In addition to hand-on lessons and field-based projects, students used tablets to create a digital Story Map. Using online ArcGIS software, they linked their photos to a base map, creating a virtual tour of Alaskan mountains, rivers, and glaciers. It was exciting to watch students engage in the creative aspects of the project as they described their GeoFORCE experience with original words and images.

Next summer, the entire cohort will explore the geology of the southeastern United States during the Second-Year Academy. Whereas GeoFORCE is typically a four-year program, the current cohort will complete the program in 2023 with a combined Third- and Fourth-Year Academy. Before or shortly after graduating from high school, they will investigate volcanic features in the Pacific Northwest and make a geologic map of folded rock layersin the Rocky Mountain region. I look forward to watching the students explore and excel together over the next two years.

— Sarah Fowell 3

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Director Sarah Fowell with North Slope students in Suntrana Canyon.

from the logistics coordinator Sarana Schell, M.S.

Dear Partners and Participants, What better way to learn to read the rock record than in the field, where the language of the earth is writ large? With a group of peers from across the state, led by enthusiastic, patient instructors?

I’m so thankful we were able to make GeoFORCE Alaska available to students in 2021, connecting them with new ideas, places and friends. Learning in person was all the more wonderful after hunkering down in 2020.

Because the program was shuttered in 2020, the GFA team ramped it up in a matter of months in the spring, instead of steadily laying groundwork over the previous fall and winter. The accelerated process involved many long days, and it was an honor to work with everyone on the team to pull the program together.

It was also an honor to support students and their families. As a mother myself, I know that it can be hard to let your teenager head out into the world. We recognize the trust parents place in us, and each year staff work with the University of Alaska Fairbanks on a detailed risk management plan. This year, that expanded to include provisions to minimize the risk of COVID-19. Students rose to the occasion and accepted the extra safety steps with grace, masking and waiting patiently when we lined up for testing.

This was my first year with the program, and I was impressed to see how much the students learned. They were enriched academically and personally during this on-ramp to college, or wherever their interests lead. I know my life was enriched working alongside so many curious, fun, quirky, serious, interesting young Alaskans, and I look forward to welcoming them back next summer.

— Sarana Schell

Logistics coordinator Sarana Schell with Northwest Arctic students on Spencer Lake.

4

2021 staff Staff members undergo training through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and have experience relevant to their roles. Day counselors are graduate or undergraduate students majoring in geoscience, and Support driver Josh Barna is pursuing a master’s degree in geoscience. Education coordinator Eric Orphys and Counselor Kailyn Davis are secondary school teachers with bachelor’s degrees in geoscience. All of these staff have the background necessary to help students apply concepts and identify features in the field. Night counselors are undergraduate students who remain on call after hours for participants who need supplies or assistance after lights out.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Support driver Josh Barna points out details of a coal seam to North Slope students.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Education coordinator Eric Orphys, North Slope students and Bryan Bosserman at Spencer Lake.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Counselors Bryan Bosserman and Kailyn Davis

5

Night counselors Rachel Davis and Ally Vahalik

a note about COVID-19 The current GeoFORCE Alaska cohort was scheduled to enter the program in 2020, but, due to the global pandemic, program activities were suspended in May 2020. As late as January 2021, it was unclear whether this year’s program would be possible.

GeoFORCE Alaska was able to resume activities in 2021, after devising a detailed COVID-19 mitigation plan in collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks risk management personnel.

To minimize the risk to staff, students and their home communities, the cohort was broken into three regional groups of 11 or 12 students, and we conducted a separate First-Year Academy for each group. Further steps included asking students to obtain a negative COVID-19 test result prior to their departure for Fairbanks or a rapid test immediately upon arrival; single-room occupancy in UAF dorms; wearing masks indoors; social distancing; lots of outdoor activities and getting students tested before they headed home.

We are grateful to students for your patience as we waited for testing; to parents and guardians for the effort required to obtain tests and communicate results; to personnel at testing stations; to educators who encouraged students and GeoForce staff who mentored participants; and of course to our sponsors, who make the GeoFORCE experience possible. Thanks to your combined efforts, GeoFORCE Alaska First-Year Academy 2021 was a success for our students!

— Director Sarah Fowell & Logistics coordinator Sarana Schell

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

6

What is GeoFORCE Alaska?

GeoFORCE Alaska is a four-year*, field-based summer geoscience program for high school students from rural Alaska communities. Each summer, 36 students spend a few days on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus learning geoscience concepts.

They then embark upon a hands-on learning adventure that illustrates those concepts.

Applicants must have competitive grades in math and science, submit essays, and be recommended by a teacher or counselor.

To remain in the program, they must create a digital StoryMap, complete field-based projects, and earn a score of at least 80% on the annual final exam.

*Due to COVID-19, the current cohort will complete the curriculum in three years, ending with a combined Northwest U.S. and Rocky Mountain Academy in 2023.

7

GeoFORCE Classroom: Suntrana Canyon, Healy

Why GeoFORCE Alaska?

Participants must keep their grades up to continue with the program.

They graduate high school at a higher rate than their peers statewide.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

North Slope students use hand lenses to examine minerals in metamorphic rocks in Denali National Park.

8

Who is GeoFORCE Alaska?

GeoFORCE Alaska students are from Interior, North Slope and Northwest Arctic communites. The next opportunity for 8th and 9th grade students to apply will be spring 2024.

Region

Gender

Ethnicity

Students chose all that apply, so number adds to more than 100%.

9

Beaver Kivalina Point Lay Noatak Kaktovik AtqasukKiana Noorvik Point Hope

Utqiagvik Nulato Galena Deering Buckland

Kobuk

Huslia

Ft. Yukon

Communities represented in the 2021 cohort.

10

How does GeoFORCE Alaska work?

Hands-on lessons at the University of Alaska Fairbanks introduce concepts students will see in the field.

Photo by John O’Brien, Fairbanks Trails and Rivers

Field trips introduce students to examples of geologic concepts and career options.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

11

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Each new field site brings opportunities for active learning in the academically intense program.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Hands-on projects keep students engaged in the field.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Each evening, interactive review sessions are followed by a quiz.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

12

Some First-Year Academy

objectives: • Diagram the rock cycle.

• Identify common sedimentary rocks.

• Identify evidence of glacial erosion and deposition.

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

• Distinguish between braided and meandering rivers.

• Explain how oxbow lakes form.

• Identify cut banks and point bars and explain how they form.

• Create a digital story map to describe the GeoFORCE experience with original text and images.

13

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

• Foster new friendships!

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

• Experience life on a university campus.

14

Where does GeoFORCE Alaska happen?

1

2 UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

6

4

3

8

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

9

8 UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

11

12

13

15

The First-Year Academy explores geologic features of Alaska.

15

Numbers on photos correspond to sites on map.

16

Looking ahead:

2022’s Academy is in the southwestern U.S.

Second-Year

Zio n

Park, Spri ngda l e ,U t

ah

yon, Page, A r i z Can on a pe lo

na l tio Na

An te

Canyon Nation a lP a

rk ter, Winslow, A r i zo Cra n

17

a nd Gr

r eo

Me t

a

Some Second-Year Academy

objectives:

• Identify limestone and explain how it forms.

• Illustrate the relationship between dunes and cross-beds.

• Reconstruct ancient environments based on rocks and fossils.

• Find evidence that water and wind can erode rock and explain how this is possible.

• Define mass wasting and recognize examples.

• Identify features caused by differential erosion.

• Stay safe.

• Have fun!

18

Financial

19

reports

20

P l at i n u m L e v e l $ 2 5 , 0 0 0 +

Gold Level $10,000-$24,999

21

many thanks to our

Sponsors

We deeply appreciate our sponsors, whose generosity and sustained commitment allows us to offer the GeoFORCE Alaska experience to students at no cost to their families.

We have a great team behind our mission to inspire the next generation of geoscientists. If you are interested in making a corporate donation or would like to learn about other ways to get involved, please contact us at 907-712-7540 or geoforce@alaska.edu.

Copper Level $1,000-$4,999

Additional Sponsors

22

GeoFORCE Alaska

College of Natural Science and Mathematics University of Alaska Fairbanks PO Box 755940, Fairbanks, AK 99775 geoforce@alaska.edu 907-712-7540 UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution and prohibits illegal discrimination against any individual: www.alaska.edu/nondiscrimination/.

UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.

Visit our website!

www.geoforce.alaska.edu Like us on Facebook:

@GeoFORCE Alaska