ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP), run through the University of Alaska, offers an Acceleration Academy that allows students to take full-time college classes while still in high school. The program, for students in grades 8 through 12, is free and can help families save on college costs as well as give students a head start on their careers.
“By the time they’re out as a 12th grader, if they start with us as a ninth grader, they’ll have accumulated at least two years of college before graduating from high school,” ANSEP’s University of Alaska Anchorage regional director Janelle Marie Anausuk Sharp said.
The Acceleration Academy is currently offered at UA campuses in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Bethel and Kotzebue. At 187 students, this year’s class is the largest in the program’s history.
Sharp said the program is open to all students, not just Alaska Natives, and taking STEM classes like science and engineering isn’t required at the high school level. She said once students graduate from the academy there’s no requirement they complete their college education at the University of Alaska.
“But we really encourage them because we are trying to keep our students here as leaders when they graduate from high school and college,” she said. “Because we really believe that our people are going to make the best decisions for our communities.”
The program is currently taking applications for the spring semester, summer program and students who are interested in participating next fall.
This article was originally published on KTUU by Lauren Maxwell Published: Sep. 18, 2023 at 4:27 PM AKDT
