College Track 3: 360 North Broadcast

A documentary that features Alaska Native students working to balance cultural obligations with a college education and a panel discussion on the film taped at the University of Alaska Southeast will broadcast at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 and Sunday, April 21 on 360 North Public Television.

Juneau, Alaska

Date of Press Release: April 9, 2014

A documentary that features Alaska Native students working to balance cultural obligations with a college education and a panel discussion on the film taped at the University of Alaska Southeast will broadcast at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 and Sunday, April 21 on 360 North Public Television. In Juneau, 360 North is on GCI cable channel 18.

Since 2004, the Alaska College Track Series has followed several rural Alaska Native students on their path toward graduation, including Ralph and Gloria Wolfe of Yakutat and Hydaburg residents Ben and Marita Young.  The series documents how different a university education can be when a student is also struggling to preserve and rebuild a culture.

Yakutat resident Amanda Bremner Porter has been featured in all three installments of the College Track series, in 2004, 2007 and 2013. In 2011, she received a Bachelor’s Degree from UAS in the Liberal Arts with an emphasis in English and minor in Social Science and Tlingit.
Porter spent half her college career in Yakutat taking e-learning courses. She received a temporary teaching certificate from the State of Alaska, which allowed her to teach Tlingit language and culture studies at the secondary level at the Yakutat High School.

“I’m very grateful for the College Track series. It brings insight on the struggles of rural students and their pursuit of higher education,” said Porter.  “Although it is important for staff and faculty to understand the unique situations many students face, I believe it is even more important for students themselves to understand that these obstacles are not definitive. Balancing our traditional and familial obligations with our own pursuit of education and growth is difficult, but it can be done.”

Alaska College Track 3 is produced by Lucid Reverie in association with The University of Alaska Southeast with funding from First National Bank Alaska.

360 North is Alaska’s public affairs channel. Part of the statewide offerings of Alaska public television, it is the most widely distributed television channel in Alaska offering a full-time schedule of Alaska programming, public affairs specials, documentaries, historical programs, Native interest shows and coverage of Alaska government.