All Around The Sound
Honors
Governor Mike Dunleavy honored two regional residents, Daisy Lockwood Katcheak of Stebbins and Sgt. Carlos Navarro of Golovin, for their resilience in his State of the State address before the Alaska State Legislature.
Dunleavy said he first met Daisy Lockwood Katcheak, the city administrator of Stebbins, when the remnants of Typhoon Merbok hit the Western coast of Alaska. Daisy already had a damage assessment completed and a contractor and a plan to rebuild the seawall. Due to her leadership, focus and diligence, Governor Dunleavy chose to present Daisy with the Shirley Demientiff Award at the annual convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives. She came from Stebbins for the State of the State to represent all the community members who rose to the occasion under such difficult circumstances.
Sergeant Carlos “Julian” Navarro was hired by Kawerak Incorporated in 2009 to serve the community of Golovin as a Village Public Safety Officer. For the past 13 years, Sergeant Navarro has served his community with a calm and quiet presence as he’s taken on bootleggers and drug traffickers and worked with our State Troopers to hold offenders accountable. In 2015, he also saved the life of a fourmonth-old child in distress by performing CPR for over two hours while waiting for a medevac flight to arrive from Anchorage. His actions helped protect lives again this past fall as the remains of Typhoon Merbok approached the coast. In addition, he ensured that the community was prepared and that elders were sheltered.
Ocean stewardship awards
The Alaska SeaLife Center awarded Nome’s Vera Metcalf with an Alaska Ocean Leadership award. Vera Metcalf will receive the prestigious Walter J. and Ermalee Hickel Lifetime Achievement Award. Following the footsteps of the late Governor Walter J. Hickel and the late
Ermalee Hickel, the Hickel Family continues to sponsor this award to recognize individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the management of Alaska’s coastal and ocean resources for more than 20 years. Vera Metcalf has held the position of Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC) Director for over 20 years. She is a recent inductee to the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame, an honor given to women who have influenced the direction of Alaska. Vera has held several positions including Commissioner on the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, a member of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and currently serves as a Special Advisor on Native Affairs with the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. She works and communicates easily with scientists, researchers, political appointees, tribal leaders, and EWC members to ensure ocean resources are available for generations to come. Leading the EWC, Vera represents Alaska’s coastal walrus hunting communities in the co-management of the Pacific walrus and ensures that scientific and Indigenous Knowledge research is conducted responsibly and utilized effectively in management decisions regarding the Pacific walrus population.
Former Nome student Mia Siebenmorgen Creswell is awarded the Ocean Youth Award. The Ocean Youth Award is awarded to an individual or team of Alaskan youth up to 19-years-old who has displayed a dedication to promoting the understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s oceans. Mia Siebenmorgen Cresswell served as an intern for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council’s marine invasive species monitoring program. Monitoring the nearshore coastal ecosystem in her hometown of Cordova,
Mia set traps to monitor for European green crab and monitored settlement plates in the local harbor for benthic invasive species as part of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s Plate Watch program. She has engaged in outreach by presenting her monitoring work at events including the Wrangell Institute for Science and Environment’s Science Lecture Series and the Prince William Sound Natural History Symposium. Mia also interned at the Prince William Sound Science Center and the Copper River Watershed Project, where she took on various multimedia and art projects, created small grant proposals, and served as a youth leader for a summer stewardship program. She has brought greater awareness to the issue of marine invasive species in Alaska and stewards the importance of marine science in Southcentral Alaska and beyond.
Dean’s List
Nome’s Raina McRae has earned placement on the Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA) Dean’s List for fall semester 2022. Students must earn a 3.5 to 3.84 grade-point average to be listed. Gonzaga University is a humanistic, private Catholic University providing a Jesuit education to more than 7,500 students.