Follow-up information for Martin’s presentation at the ANSEP dissemination conference.

Power Point slides presented individually as a flickr set archive. YouTube video of running presentation. YouTube video of ‘fun faces’ from the conference. Enjoy!

Quyana for coming to Alaska! Nice to see you all and looking forward to working with you.

Contact Martin at martinl(at)bethel.uaf.edu for more info.

ML

link to .jpg images of slides BRIDGING

Running Slide-show from Martin’s Bridge .ppt

Fun Faces From the Conference

It was one long week, over in Platinum. Long, but sooooo much fun.

It’s August 16th, year 2007… about a month since the program ended. And a month and two weeks since Platinum. I’m a little late, I know. But better late than never, right?

When we first landed, the weather was b-e-a-utiful! At least I thought so until one of the residents passed by using a down-coat, a hat, gloves, and boots. I turned to Alessa and asked, “Am I supposed to feel cold?” We unloaded the chartered caravan, loaded the truck, and turned to Martin for our next set of instructions. “Now we walk to the school.” We had so much going through our heads after he said that. “We have to walk?” “How far is it?” “Will I get a blister? [Alessa had never gotten a blister before in her life]” “I knew I should’ve ran away last night.” “What’s going on? I wasn’t paying attention. I’m lost!”

So we started walking. The truck passed us. Isaiah was sitting in the back. We were jealous… until we saw the dog. When we first spotted a dog it was from afar, and it looked like a bear. We were afraid. This dog looked exactly the same, big, black, and furry. But this time, we weren’t afraid. We were laughing. It ran extremely close to the front right wheel of the truck our gear was in with it’s nose practically touching the wheel. Jup [Angelica Afcan] and I were laughing so hard we could barely walk. Jodi [Jodi Friend] and Sister [Tiffany Andrew] were laughing as well, though I’m not so sure what they were laughing at. Perhaps it was the dog, perhaps it was the girls laughing next to them, perhaps it was the size of the Post Office… I’m really not sure. What Alessa [Alessa Poe] and Oz [Oscar Perry] were doing, I’m not sure at all. I was too busy laughing.

We had been walking for a minute and half and Martin said, “There’s the school.” We all looked up from what ever we were doing and saw a red building with blue trimming and a basketball court, the biggest building in the village. From it’s looks, we automatically decided that this was a place that we did not want to stay. Little did we know, we’d be calling this school home within the next few days. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

So far, I’ve gave you almost every detail of our first half hour in Platinum. From here on, I’m unable to do so. [You're sighing with relief]. What I am able to do though, is give you highlights of our trip.

We got there on Sunday the 15th of July. That day, the group unpacked and attempted to make ourselves comfortable. I never truly became comfortable until that evening. Jup, Alessa, Oscar, and I had walked around the northern part of the village looking for the stores. They’re all closed on Sundays, so we went back. Jup and I decided to do something crazy-fun at this moment, but first we had to change and get the camera we were assigned for the rest of the program. After we’d changed into appropriate clothes and got our camera [Number "H"], we went for a little walk. As were were landing, we saw a big, cadet gray, liquidy substance less than a quarter-mile from the airstrip. No one knows how excited I was to see that. So… we were walking on a little path we found that goes from the airstrip to the liquidy substance, talking about our day, things we’d wish to accomplish, just life in general. Then we got there. Ooooo babee, the first few steps in were COLD! Then we got used to it. You should, at least I hope you should, know by now that I’m talking about the ocean. For the longest time, were just in up to our thighs. After we got used to that, we decided to fall back into the waves. Some advice: never leave your mouth open when going into the ocean [SALTY!!!].

Platinum is a small village with an amazing history of helping Alaska growing in many different ways. It has a platinum mine of course about ten miles away from the village. Gravel is always being shipped back and forth from the mountains to the edge of town which is probably five or ten mile trips back and forth from seven to seven. There are two stores with enough food to keep your thirst quenched and tummy’s fed. We hiked the closest, but highest mountain, Red Mountain with the hight just under two thousand feet. Kayaked around the village from the bay and came around from the ocean and back on to the beach which was about six or seven miles and about a four hour trip but all was worth it. The tour of the mine was great because we learned that their once one of the largest cranes of its time and got to walk around in it. We also got to see every building the same way it was almost seventy years ago with the exception of remodeling and new or improved vehicles to mine the operations every summer. After all the days work is done we get to cook or dinner is served by Carol which is amazing cook and always have something new compared to our usual foods we eat at home(casa food)…well anyways were about to head out to take a steam so i’ll keep updating the blogs sooner or later

Hello again! This week, we are on our vacation here in Platinum. We have 2 more days to go until we get back to Bethel and continue our course. So far, our vacation is going well, and we’re having a lot of fun. When we first got here, we thought this village was so small but beautiful. On Monday, we kayaked 6 miles on the ocean, and it was fun. When we got back, we swam for a few minutes in our dry suits…but i got wet. Tuesday, we hiked up red mountain and it wasn’t all that bad. It was so much fun, but I was really tired. It was awesome being on top of a mountain. From where I’m from, there’s no mountains and that was the first time I actually got up to the top of a mountain. I guess I could call myself a mountain climber now. That hike up to the mountain was 4 miles and it wasn’t that bad going up and down the mountain.  Wednesday, we went on a tour at the Platinum Mine a.k.a. old platinum.  It was fun to see all the old buildings and things in the buildings.  We saw many different things at that place.  Anyways, overall, i think hiking was the most fun!  The next time I visit, I wanna see a bear because we only saw caribous so far.  For next years bridging students, my advice would be to bring good hiking shoes.    ~Tiffany~

The job that I’m working in is at the Bethel Family Clinic, and my supervisor is LeTisha Guinn.  Some of the people I work with are Meredith, Bryan, Tess, Debbie, and Theresa.  What do I do? What I do there is check on the charts from the years before, and sometimes do PECS on the computers.  Sometimes, we get to help or watch Debbie or Meredith see some patients, but everything has to be confidential.  We check the patient’s temp’s and their blood pressures.  Some days, there isn’t that much to do when they don’t have patients to see, or when their provider isn’t in.  The most fun thing about our job is that we get to check some patient’s temp’s and their blood pressures.  Checking some patients made me experience what my mom does everyday at work because she’s a health-aid at home.  I’ve always wanted to work somewhere in the health fields after school, and now I have some experience about it.  I still do wanna work somewhere in the health field so this job didn’t affect of what I want to do after school or college.  ~Tiff~

Right now I’m here in Platinum for a so called vacation. It’s been alright, we’ve done a lot of different activities. We went kayaking, hiked Red Mountain, and also toured Platinum mining camp. The most fun, was probably the Mining camp, because we got to see a lot of stuff that was still there from when the camp was first established back in 1927, i think, don’t quote me on that though, lol. It was cool seeing how everything still stands from when it was first built. We looked into a lot of old buildings and also got to see the dredge. I’m still not exactly sure what it is, but I think it dug up the platinum deposits or something along those lines. I also liked seeing the old tractors and machines and stuff. I got to seat it some of them, which was pretty fun.

Another thing I enjoyed was when we made a fire on the beach and ate yummy smores. They were delicious . And while we were down at the beach I entertained myself by making a trail for everyone to follow, it was interesting. Everyone laughed because the trail had arrows pointing where to go, and some even let you go back a few steps and stuff. It’s been fun being here, but lately we’ve been running out of things to keep ourselves busy with. It’s awesome being able to have computers here though, without them I think we’d all go crazy. Today we were waiting to see how the weather turns out so we can go camping. I’m pretty excited because I haven’t gone camping before so it should be fun.

This blog will be about my internship… nothing to do with Fidelity by Regina Spektor.

I am a Desktop Service Technician and I work with Technology. It’s a branch/department of the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation. We handle 48 or someother villages on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta. If ever there’s any technological problems they’d call in to the Service Desk, or write us an e-mail, and we’d create a call ticket. If any of us can handle it right then and there, then the problem will be solved. If unable to do so, we’d create a call ticket. These can be assigned to different branches of the Technologic Department. Departments include: Service Desk, Systems [RPMS, SMS, Kronos], Networking [Hardware, Software], Telephony [ANY telephone issues], Switchboard [Hospital side, they answer all calls that come from outside the YKHC network]. We recently just gone through a little trouble regarding our CIO. D. Maples used to be our CIO, but he resigned without notice. YKHC is hiring a new CIO for our department, but for now, J. Shawler is our acting CIO. Any other given day he’d be my Supervisor, but for now, he’s my Supervisor/CIO. My everyday schedule, during this internship program, goes like this: wake up, get ready, go to class [College Pre-Calculus with Dr. B. Brown from 8 am to 10 am], have my daddy pick me up for work [10 am to 5 pm with lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm], then head back the The Annex. Free time from 5 pm to 7 pm, during this time I’d usually hang out with the ladies and Oscar and whoever else decided to come and see us. At 7, everyone not in the program would be kicked out for “Study Time.” Willie Myers, our tutor, would help us with the lessons assigned for that day. Study Time ends at 9pm, and from then until curfew [11pm on weekdays and 12pm on weekends] is Free time. I’m getting off subject aren’t I? Back to being a Technologist….

I’d answer phones. I’d be out fixing issues. Depending on the Service Desk’s day schedule, we’d be answering phones or out in the field. I haven’t yet been assigned to go to one of the villages that we support, but hopefully that will happen soon. One of our upcoming projects is to switch over all PC’s from Windows 2000 to Windows XP and Office 2000 to Office 2003. It’ll take us a while because of all the village travel that we’ll have to do.

What I like best about working at Technology is the people. They’re comfortable to be around and usually always have a smile on their face. It’s hard to feel awkward, angry, sad, uncomfortable, or any other negative feeling when you work with people such as the ones I do.

Love life. Just love it.

My title at work is an Engineering Assistant, but I really do a little of everything. My supervisor is Joe Seibert, he’s cool because I didn’t know anything when I started. My co-worker is Albert Swope who is a classmate of mine. He pretty much taught me everything I know. So far I’ve helped rewire the news production room where they make all of the news announcements. I never really realized how much work actually goes into making radio broadcasts. I even learned how to use tools to make audio cables. At first I’d always forget something, so I’d have to start over, but once you get the hang of it it’s pretty easy. Now I also know what tools are what, lol. I learn something new everyday which is pretty fun. The funnest part I would say is when you wire something together, and it actually works when you turn it on . Another fun part for me was when I got to help out in the News Department and I got to be on the radio. It’s kinda weird hearing yourself on the radio, but I like it. Once I also got to help out with the famous Birthday Line, it was harder then I thought, because you cant goof around. And it was hard to keep myself from giggling. It’s been fun learning new things and doing different things, but I’m not sure I’m into being a broadcast engineer or whatever, its alot of time consuming work, and you have to do everything precise. And I mess tihings up alot, or forget things so it would be pretty hard for me to do, But if your into that kind of work I would recommend it to you because I had fun doing it.

After a month of daily Pre-calculus classes and 10 ta’ 5 work schedules…the College Bridging Students are ready for a break.

So…we’ve landed in Platinum, Alaska…on the east side of Kuskokwim Bay…a quiet (sometimes) hamlet of ~ 50 people…perched on the sandy shores of the Bering Sea just north of the prominence of Cape Newenham.

Lots to do here…hiking, kayaking, visiting the mine…and oh…yes…we do have the internet. No MySpace withdraw for our students. LOL

Stay tuned!

M

Fourth week..

Hey this is Jodi. I am good friends with my room mates now. We went bird siting 2 weeks ago and got a tour of the Children’s home up passed Kwethluk. There was no body there and the houses were all creepy inside. It was a lot of fun.

On June 30 we all went kayaking in the Kuskokwim River. We went around this huge Island and stopped half way to visit Alessa’s fish camp. It was fun playing basketball girls against guys. When we got back to Bethel we all went for a dip in the river as a way to celebrate for working our way around the island. The water was freezing!!!

Well I guess next weekend will be awesome! I gotta get back to work so L8r!:D

-Jodi

July 2—hey, it’s me again-Tiffany.  on saturday(June 30), we went kayaking around the island on the kuskokwim river. it was sooo much fun!!  we went to alessa’s camp and hung out there for awhile. we played ball, and had snack.. hehe.  we took a lot of pictures and we also jumped into the river after we got back.  the water was soo cold!!  but it was fun getting wet in the cold water….   yeah.  after kayaking, we got tired and now our arms are sore…we also got blisters and they hurt so bad…   so far, the weekend activities are going prty well, and they are so much fun!  hopefully, we’ll have another weekend of fun this coming saturday :P ok laytah!!!    ~Tiffany~

Link here!

Here are photos compiled during the ‘07 College Bridging Program season…lots of fun…lots of work! Link here!

Link here!

College Bridging Students on their weekend jaunt…paddling the Kuskokwim River and visiting Alessa Poe’s family camp just down river from Bethel.

today is my 2nd day of work and it’s Thursday June 28.  my job is pretty fun. i’ve been practicing some things here..  and i’m learning a lot.  it’s a good experience. so far, it’s almost 3 weeks since we’ve been here.  a few more weeks and we’ll go home.     Last weekend, we went to Children’s Home passed Kwethluk. we had fun going for the boat ride.  we looked around in some of the buildings and there were so many things there.  it was pretty fun, but it started raining.  we got here just when it started raining.  well, i’m gonna end this here.. so see u til my next blog..       ~Tiffany~

HEYY, It’s me Alessa Poe, from Bethel. A little about me is that I’m 16 years old, soon to be 17 Umm, This past year I attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka for the first year ever. This year is my senior year and I’m not exactly sure where I’ll be going to school because I want to graduate at home as much as I want to go back to Edgecumbe again. I love just hanging out with my friends and have a good time. I can be shy but once I get to know someone I’m a pretty awesome person to be around hehe.

This is my first time attending a camp at KUC. Today marks our first week doing the Summer Bridging Program, it was a long week, lol. We take our Pre calc class in the morning and when its over I go to my internship at KYUK. So far I like working over there because everything is new to me, and I even got to be on the radio. So now I’m pretty famous, jk lol. But its nice learning new things and we’ll see how the rest of the camp goes. Later

Hello, My name Angelica. This is an amazing program. I am here in Bethel right now with five other students. We are taking on a challenge many aren’t accustomed to. This is the end of our first week here. It was a rough week filled with many late nights and early mornings.  When they say College Experience, they MEAN college experience. It’s been pretty fun though, I start my internship with the City of Bethel on Monday (June 18). I will be working with City Planning. I’m pretty excited. One week down Six more to go. Let’s get started.

Hello! It’s me, Tiffany. I am taking this bridging program this summer- ‘07. Today is Friday and it’s our first weekend, it’s going pretty well, and I’m having some fun so far. I didn’t get to work this week, but hopefully I’ll start working next week. This week went by very slowly, but it’ll probably run by fast once I start working. Well, I’m running out of things to say right now so I’ll drop by again soon. LAyTaH! ~Tiffany~

Here is the new 2007, Application, FAQ’s and Student Assessment form needed for this years 2007 College Career Bridging Program.

Bridging Application: Click Here

Bridging FAQ’s: Click Here

Student Assessment Form: Click Here