Academics and Leadership

ANSEP is a college-readiness program for students interested in math, science, and health careers. ANSEP’s objective is to effect systemic change in the hiring patterns of Alaska Natives in science and engineering by placing our students on a career path to leadership.

Started in 1995 as a scholarship program for university students, ANSEP has evolved into a longitudinal education model that provides a continuous string of components beginning with students in sixth grade and continuing on through high school, into science and engineering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through to the PhD. ANSEP students at every level are successful at rates far exceeding national and state numbers. We provide inspiration, guidance, and opportunity for students from over 100 Alaskan communities. We have arrived at this model after 20 years of effort, with the awareness that a fragmented approach that focuses on one academic level is not adequate to deal with the scope of the problem and ultimately falls short.

Napaskiak students have traditionally been very active and extremely successful in ANSEP.

Yuraq is a traditional way of dancing that started in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta over a thousand years ago. Students grade K-8 participate in Yuraq each Friday for 30 minutes. Beyond this, there is a Yuraq team that practices and performs during special events and annual feasts at the school.

The team also travels annually to the host site of the Lower Kuskokwim School District Dance Festival. They may also travel to other events as opportunities come up. In the past they have attended the Camaii in Bethel, and festivalas in Toksook Bay and Napakiak to name some.

The team is currently in the process of training the next generation of male drummers, but several females have shown interest in singing and drumming.

Students grades K-12 are able to participate in Science Fair. An experiment is put into a competition where contestants present their science project, results in the form of a report, display board, and/or models that they have created. In LKSD students grade 4-12 may then travel to Bethel in late February to present their findings, in the categories of Elementary, Middle and High school. From here High School students are able to carry on to Anchorage for state competition with their projects.