Education

Photos: Alaska Technical Center in Kotzebue

KOTZEBUE -- When students enter walk the Alaska Technical Center in the Northwest Arctic, they first have to go through a tall qanitchaq (an arctic entry or mud room), complete with a nearby bench for pulling off boots and high windows that look out on the waters of Kotzebue Sound.

From there, it's off to class for students at the technical center, where residents from rural Alaska communities in grades 11 through 14 (essentially through an associate's degree) can focus their higher education.

It's touches like the entryway that make the technical center more welcoming, which is important given that the boarding school is a home away from home for students looking to gain vocational skills in four fields: process technology, construction, health care and culinary arts.

Read more: New dorm means new magnet school for rural Alaska high schoolers

ADVERTISEMENT