Alaska News

Alaska Airlines donates $1 million to Native engineering program

Middle school students from across rural Alaska will get the chance to attend a science and technology academy in Anchorage through a $1 million three-year grant from Alaska Airlines, the company announced Thursday at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.

The grant supports the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. It will allow students from rural Alaska Native communities to fly free to Anchorage for the program's middle school academy, which promotes science, technology, engineering and math education.

Alaska Airlines said the grant is among the largest donations it has made in more than 80 years of operating in Alaska.

Students get a taste of college experience at the academy. They attend classes that teach problem solving, research and communication skills woven into core subjects including biology, chemistry and engineering.

According to the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program site, students in fifth through seventh grades with an interest in science and mathematics and at least a B average in those subjects are eligible for the middle school academy.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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