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Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

Only two days worth of food exists on store shelves across Alaska, Canada’s border is closed off in an attempt to control a world-wide influenza outbreak, and there are no passenger flights out of the state.

Things are not looking good for Alaskans.

The dire state of the state was a scenario constructed for participants of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Interior Aleutians campus’ Upward Bound program.

Annie Hopper, statewide Rural Human Services Program director, said the summer program was created to highlight the different services and programs offered to students by the Interior Aleutians campus.

Students spent all week trying to come up with solutions to the worst-case scenario by combining construction trades, alternative energy, nutrition, food safety, math, English, ethnobotany, veterinary science and tribal management.

One of the biggest components of the weeklong program was the construction of greenhouses. Twenty-nine students spent a large part of their time on the campus in the back of the building working on three greenhouses.

Hopper said students had to incorporate multiple skills to plan and build the greenhouses. The students needed to use geometry to plan dimensions and honed their writing and communication skills by recording all of their building plans and progress.

“You could see them out there measuring,” she said.

The completed greenhouses will go to Effie Kokrine Charter School, Howard Luke’s Camp and a nonprofit organization.

After 12 years of trying, Clara Johnson, director of the Interior Aleutians campus, finally secured a grant for an Upward Bound program at the Interior Aleutians site.

Johnson said the grant lasts for four years, and the money will be used to help prepare mainly Alaskan Native students for higher education.

Ideally, students enter Upward Bound as incoming freshmen and the program helps students throughout their high school years and those looking ahead to continuing their education.

Prior to the week at the Interior Aleutians campus, the students spent three weeks at Howard Luke’s camp learning about Native Alaskan culture.

Amelia Ruerup, the program’s manager, said students camped out on weekdays and went home on the weekends.

Students listened to the wisdom of elders, worked on traditional crafts and games, and Ruerup said they even fit in some math and science during their stay at Howard Luke’s.

Ruerup said elders played a large part during the stay at Howard Luke’s and told the students how the important a balanced life is. Students need to retain their culture but also to do well in their school education.

“It was a family environment. It was really nice,” Ruerup said.

Annette Freiburger, coordinator of the Nenana Center, said the elders have also played a hefty role during the last week as they start and bring the days to a close.

The 29 students were broken up into three groups and had to choose a site for a fictional village before learning about the dire situation they would have to “survive.”

Hopper, Freiburger and Kevin Illingworth, an assistant professor with the Tribal Management Program, said the situation is drastic, but Alaskans are dealing with some similar issues on a much smaller scale. More Alaskans are trying to become more subsistance methods to cope with the rising prices and weakened economy.

The program also helps develop leadership skills while keeping academic skills sharp and exposing students to the wide variety of educational and career possibilities available to them.

After the students save Alaska, they will take a weeklong field trip to Anchorage to meet with other Upward Bound students and to tour the University of Alaska Anchorage so they can see other opportunities for higher education.

To finish the summer program, the students will come back to finish the projects and to have a ceremony to commemorate the lessons they learned and the fun they have had this summer.