Our Program Manager, Carolina Barraza, and College & Career Specialist, Christina Contreras, from the Ocean Leaders Program, traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, to visit our partner, the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP). We were invited to attend ANSEP’s annual celebration event, where 1,500 students, family members, staff, and partners gather to honor student graduates and acknowledge partners and donors.
Ocean Discovery was recognized among ANSEP’s partners and gifted real baleen, representative of Alaskan Native culture. Last summer, Ocean Discovery partnered with ANSEP, and we nominated two Ocean Leader alumni, Zayra Meza (’20) and Demian Rodriguez (’18), to join an ANSEP internship in DC. Zayra and Demian represented Ocean Discovery well in the internship program and were invited to the ANSEP celebration.
At the celebration, our Ocean Leader alumni were spoken highly of, and it was clear that they had integrated nicely into the ANSEP community. With the success of last year’s internship partnership, we were excitedly invited back this year and asked to nominate 2 to 3 Ocean Leader alumni to join in the 2024 internship.
The ANSEP celebration was the perfect occasion to spotlight this growing partnership. Carolina and Christina also had the opportunity to meet with National Partnership Director Elizabeth Spangler at ANSEP’s program site to receive a tour and learn more from her experience in forming workforce partnerships, especially at the federal level.
Another highlight was hearing keynote speaker, John Herrington, a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut, speak about what it is like to be the first Native American to go to space. Read more about that at https://www.ansep.net/why-cant-i-be-an-astronaut-first-native-american-to-go-to-space-speaks-to-alaska-native-students/
The trip was an incredible mixture of celebrating and learning, and we look forward to strengthening the ANSEP partnership.