Kawerak Scholar Highlight:
EJ Rochon & the Transition Program
“College is giving me the bright future I thought I could never have. There are so many new opportunities and I have met the most incredible people. This is the happiest I have been in a long time, and I know that if I had stayed in Nome, I would have come up to a dead end. I never could have made it without the help of the transition program.”
EJ Rochon, a 20-year-old freshman attending Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado never thought college could be in the picture for “somebody like her.” She wasn’t ready to jump into college like some of her classmates. After a couple years went by, EJ wasn’t sure what the future was going to look like. But a single encouraging text in 2021 from Kawerak Transition Program Coordinator Jessica Farley letting EJ know she had less than 30 days to apply for scholarships, led her to the Higher Education office the next day. EJ found herself applying for school and the College Transition Program, or CTP. Two days later she was accepted into both the College Transition Program and the school of her choice. Rochon decided there was no backing out now.
Excitement built as EJ discovered there were four other students from
Nome who planned to attend ‘the Fort’ aka Fort Lewis College. Some students also planned on going to the University of Alaska Southeast, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Christian College and Alaska Pacific University. The college transition program made sure all of 14 students were connected through weekly webinars. The webinars covered information on financial aid, how to thrive academically, housing and campus safety, social/emotional health and cultural connectedness. Participants also spent a couple hours a week on the Essential Educations Online Program that teaches about college essentials and budgeting.
Students who completed all the webinars for the program were gifted a new ASUS Laptop, a REI the North Face Borealis Laptop backpack, school supplies and a $500 stipend. Their airfare was also paid to their place of school and back for winter break thanks to NSEDC. Not to mention the ultra-essential pizza party the day before leaving for college.
Travel Adventure
“It takes an arm and a leg to get to Durango. It’s kind of why I love it. You’re in a small remote town and it almost feels like home!” continued on page 11