Callie Conerton<\/span><\/p>\nUpcoming UAS graduate Callie Conerton is a Juneau girl through and through.<\/p>\n
When asked in an email why she chose UAS, Conerton replied by writing, \u201cWhen it comes down to it, I love Juneau. I love the community and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conerton, now 24, is graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in elementary education after six years of hard work and studying to \u201cGilmore Girls playing in the background,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
By working at Shoefly and nannying for three children throughout her career as a university student, Conerton has been able to pay for her own education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been great to have bosses that support my dreams,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Her junior year spent in Germany made her realize just how much she loves Alaska and Juneau. During her time at UAS she dedicated five years to the student government, finishing with two years as president. She also served on the Coalition of Student Leaders. Her involvement in the student government has allowed for some memorable experiences; once she participated in a snowball fight with Chancellor Rick Caulfield while at a Board of Regents Meeting at UAA.<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s thankful to both Jeffrey Loftus and Alberta Jones, who run the elementary education program at UAS, for the instruction and support they\u2019ve given her over the years. Finishing her Montessori training at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., receiving her master\u2019s degree, and getting what she calls an \u201cadult job\u201d are next on Conerton\u2019s list of to-dos.<\/p>\n
Trever Held<\/span><\/p>\nTrever Held will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences with concentrations in sociology, history, and anthropology. Although Held\u2019s education at UAS began six years ago, he\u2019s only been a social science student for the last few.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made it to graduation slowly but surely. It took me a long time to get on track, but eventually I was able to find a program at UAS that I could be passionate about,\u201d he wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s taken full advantage of the exchange programs offered at UAS that allow students to travel to other schools and still pay UAS\u2019 tuition. Two and a half of Held\u2019s six years were spent on exchange. The first was a year spent at Utah State University in 2011-2012. In 2013-2014, Held left for a year to study in the Netherlands at the University of Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
He stayed true to his love for traveling and in 2015, he spent one semester at the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudying in a different country is a completely (life-changing) experience that more people need to consider!\u201d Held wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
He said his favorite university memories were of his time spent in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have too many amazing memories from my time spent there (than) I could possibly share,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Now that graduation is right around the corner, Held feels comfortable confessing that one of his greatest study habits has been studying under the pressure of a time crunch and \u201cwriting papers the same day they\u2019re due and receiving A\u2019s on them.\u201d Here at UAS Held has enjoyed Associate Professor of History David Noon and his extensive knowledge of U.S. history, as well as Associate Professor of Anthropology Daniel Monteith\u2019s courses, which Held said were engaging and encouraged him to think critically.<\/p>\n
Held is in no hurry to enter into a professional career straight out of college and plans to continue to work as a server in Juneau during the summer tour season. Then, he said, he\u2019ll become a \u201cclich\u00e9 twenty-something and do some traveling.\u201d Eventually, he hopes to land a long-term job somewhere out of the country.<\/p>\n
Erika Apathy<\/span><\/p>\nErika Apathy recommends that everyone wear their pajamas while studying \u2013 and, of course, plan ahead. Apathy left her hometown of Sitka to attend Southern Oregon University in 2012 and then Wichita State University for the spring of 2013.<\/p>\n
She returned to Sitka the winter of 2013 to be near family for when her son, Noah, was born. Since then, Apathy has been taking distance courses through UAS to complete her degree while subbing at a local elementary school.<\/p>\n
The ability to stay at home near her family\u2019s support after having her son during her sophomore year was a big part of why she chose UAS.<\/p>\n
Apathy will be graduating with a Bachelors of Arts with a concentration in elementary education. She remembers her first practicum fondly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the class with a practicum I had just taken classes and read books about how to be a teacher. This class was the first time I had the opportunity to actually be in a classroom and got to see what teaching really looked like in a real school,\u201d Apathy wrote in an email. Even UAS\u2019 online students get to experience a graduation ceremony \u2013 Apathy plans to.<\/p>\n
After graduation, she\u2019ll begin work on her Masters in Educational Technology, continued through distance courses offered by UAS.<\/p>\n
Nathan Block<\/span><\/p>\nThe first time Nathan Block went to college, in Minnesota, he realized he wasn\u2019t yet ready.<\/p>\n
Now, after four years at UAS, he\u2019s about to receive a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in literature, and minors in philosophy and Alaska Native studies.<\/p>\n
After completing his last tour in Iraq, Nathan Block decided to move from Elk River, Minnesota to what a high school friend called \u201cbeautiful Juneau, Alaska.\u201d It\u2019s been eight years since he jumped on a plane that landed him in this town and he hasn\u2019t left since.<\/p>\n
Thirty-three-year-old Block attributes his degree to his good friends Mr. Coffee and Buddhists \u201com\u201d chants he found on YouTube.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been a part of The Flying University, a UAS program led by Associate Professor of English Sol Neely, which brings literature and philosophy into the Lemon Creek Correctional Center. Block has also worked as a library assistant and peer advisor while completing his degree.<\/p>\n
Block has stayed true to the four-year degree program and was able to find time to balance work and play along the way. He wrote in an email that, \u201cHumans (versus) Zombies is always a fun time. Winning the Woosh (Woosh Kinaadeiyi) Poetry Slam my first year, I will never stop writing poetry. A long time ago I (chose) to live the \u201cwrite\u201d way. All the Evenings at Egan Lectures, I like how wide-ranging they are. I like educational events. It is fun to me to go out to learn and not to just party (another key to my success). Ernestine Hayes\u2019 presentation on her book \u2018Tao of Raven\u2019 was one of my favorite events this year.\u201d Next on Block\u2019s list of goals, \u201cTry to lose my freshman 15 (pounds), and my senior 20 (pounds).\u201d<\/p>\n
He hopes to stay at UAS for two more years, studying for a Master\u2019s degree in public administration (and maybe a PhD after that.)<\/p>\n
Daniel Piscoya<\/span><\/p>\nDaniel Piscoya\u2019s love of learning might make him the ideal university student.<\/p>\n
That love can be attributed, he said, to his mother\u2019s commitment to his education. She homeschooled him and his siblings from third grade until high school.<\/p>\n
Now, Piscoya is 22 and graduating with a Bachelors of Arts. He majored in English and minored in philosophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a traditional student \u2014 this is the culmination of my fourth year at UAS,\u201d Piscoya wrote in an email. His father\u2019s employment as a state trooper took him all over Alaska but \u201cKetchikan and Fairbanks mostly.\u201d After receiving the Alaska Performance Scholarship and the UA Scholars Award Piscoya knew that going to school in state was his best option. It was UAS\u2019 Scholars Leadership Award and its free housing for a year that eventually won him over.<\/p>\n
Piscoya has been involved with the UAS newspaper, the Whalesong.<\/p>\n
He began, he said, as the staff writer and advertising manager. After a year, however, he became the managing editor, a position he held for two years.<\/p>\n
Throughout those years Piscoya\u2019s work with the Whalesong has been complimented by many, including Chancellor Caulfield.<\/p>\n
Although physically Piscoya has only attended classes at UAS, he\u2019s taken a few distance courses through other UA locations, including what became the class he most enjoyed, a beginning Latin course from UAF.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig shout-out to Nina Chordas, my thesis advisor! She\u2019s been a great mentor \u2014 patient and kind, helpful and inspirational,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Piscoya said his key to success relies on music, simplifying and finding what works for him as a student.<\/p>\n
\u201cI listen to film scores while working and studying. I find that studying is more effective when both the creative and analytical halves of the mind are active at once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piscoya recognizes that he \u201cmay end up getting a job that has absolutely nothing to do with literature. That\u2019s fine with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went into college knowing that I wouldn\u2019t be able to use my degree to get a specific job – that wasn\u2019t why I came here. I came here to study something that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public speaking and inspiring others have been some of his favorite university memories. Another is residence life\u2019s student camping trips. The first he went on was three years ago, during the end of his first year at UAS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sun was making the trees golden, a breeze was waving the grass, and I was done with my essays!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
Intern Mackenzie Fisher can be reached at mackenzie.fisher@capweek.com.<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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