Maria Kulikov is a teacher and creative director at Youth on Record, a club that provides resources for young people to record their own music. Maria is currently involved in the student association at Kenai Peninsula College, in addition to tutoring her peers. Maria is a licensed CNA and is working hard to achieve her goals while giving back to her community.
Milagro Darby has started her own tutoring business, which offers services to youth, as well as students taking lower-level college courses. Milagro has overcome personal health challenges with Lyme Disease, and is working to raise awareness of Lyme Disease and counsel others who are also impacted by this health issue.
Dixie George is a dedicated student at Angoon High School. This year, she has overcome personal strife and helped her family through a period of struggle, all while keeping up with her school work.
Yuting (Tina) Kang is an involved member of her community, and is committed to academic excellence. Upon arriving at Cook Inlet Academy, she worked hard to overcome language barriers and achieve a high level of success.
Jennifer Sage is captain of Youth Leaders, a peer mentoring group in Noatak that offer support to youth, including suicide prevention. Jennifer has been involved with Youth Leaders for the last four years.
Jenysa Ahmaogak is a member of a Alaska Native dance group, makes cultural clothing, and encourages others to value their native cultures.
Shahaila Nick helped organize her school’s annual Veteran’s Day event. Veterans were able to share a meal with youth in the community, and Shahaila went above and beyond to teach youth about military service, and encourage them to thank those who have served. Shahaila is her school’s Student Body President, a member of the Aniak Fire Department’s Dragon Slayers, and volunteers at the Alaska Commercial Company’s AC Value Center during fundraisers.
Leena Robinson is involved with a group called People in Need of Knowledge, which works to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco use. Organizing events aimed at educating the community about tobacco, participating in student council, and even helping to start up a Girl Scouts group in Nenana, Leena is a passionate local leader.
Amber Pike, Jenna Morris, Isabelle Libbrecht, Charlie Latimer, Aaron Jenkins, Vasily Soloview have all demonstrated exceptional leadership skills in their role as Anchorage Youth Orchestra performing board members. The group of youth act as spokespeople for the orchestra, and are organizing a benefit concert to take place in February 2017.
Chloe Kincaid has created a program called “Hooked on Books” to encourage reading among elementary school children. Each week, she goes into classrooms to read aloud from a new book with the goal of introducing students to new genres and styles. She then works with the class to brainstorm similar books, which the kids cans copy down if they enjoyed the sample book. Chloe compiles lists of students’ favorite books, and posts them at school, and in public libraries as a resource for others.
Chloe also serves as the Student Body Secretary, Class Foreman of her ceramic class, and leader of her Battle of the Books team. She is heavily involved with her church, and is currently President of her youth Sunday School class.
Katya Mozalevskaya volunteered with Royal Family Kids Anchorage for one year before starting Royal Family Kids Mat-Su Valley in 2014. Royal Family Kids is an organization that works to better the lives of children who have experienced abuse. Katya is a highly motivated and compassionate member of her community.
Summer Sagoonick is a highly involved member of her community. At the age of 10, she began volunteering to help teach at Vacation Bible School, and has traveled to several villages in the region to assist with this program. She also attended a Covenant Youth in Action training where she learned how to teach VBS as a youth leader. Summer is a role model to her peers.
Rachelle Persson became a leader at the young age of four when she began tutoring her peers in math. Thanks to her efforts, all of her peers passed their math tests. Today, Rachelle is continuing to tutor others, and has become increasingly involved in the community, helping out with the Traditional Cultural Camp at Junak and the Alaska Cultural Camp. During the summer, Rachelle volunteers at the Kalskag Youth Center as a life skills coach. It her belief that youth become empowered when their basic needs are met.
Noah Sage is a member of the 4-H Trapping Club, and has developed skills in trapping, caring for meat and fur, skinning, and stretching. He uses his knowledge to assist new club members, and has presented at national conferences on the importance of passing on these skills. Exhibiting extraordinary leadership skills, Noah is helping to continue a longstanding tradition of Alaskan trapping.
During her time in high school, Denali Schultz became an involved member of the community. She volunteered often, and joined the Native Youth Leadership team in Kenai. While acting as a leader in her community, Denali was also working two jobs to help pay the bills for her family. Denali overcame a number of personal challenges, but continued to give back to her community and to her peers.
Vadim Yenan has attended a number of district-wide Youth Leadership trainings, and has had an extremely positive impact on his school’s climate, given his strong leadership skills.
Jacob Iya is an exceptional student who serves as a Youth Leader at Hogarth Kingeekuk Sr. Memorial School.
Kaulani Napoleon organized a donation drive aimed at collecting school supplies for refugee youth in the community. He began by presenting the idea to the Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services program run by Catholic Social Services in Anchorage. After receiving the green light from RAIS, Kaulani began reaching out, organizing, and educating the community. At the end of three months, Kaulani had collected hundred of school supplies from people across the country. The supplies were meticulously organized based on the individual needs of each student.
