Shout-out to the incredible educators, students and community members who joined us for last week's Alaska Studies Educator Summit! At a glance: "It was so great to connect. A lot of the participants talked to and learned from EACH OTHER! And having the students here to share their experiences was very powerful. They are the reason we do what we do." Thank you to See Stories for helping us bring such impactful student stories and perspectives to the summit, and to Post Marks, LLC for powerfully recording our visioning exercise on Day 2. Stay tuned for more details! (fb)

“When [my grandma] Molly became a teenager, she (like many teenagers) felt the need to assert herself and make a change. She walked from Palmer to Mentasta to live with her auntie, Katie John. Katie John is well known for standing up for our family’s rights to fish on our traditional lands in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park. It is the place my great-grandmother went when she birthed my grandma Molly. The place we have stewarded since time immemorial. It is not just a place to receive from, it’s a reciprocal relationship with the land, waters, fish, and other animals. We are that place; that place is us.” -Yatibaey Evans, AKHF Storytelling Fellow In honor of Katie John Day tomorrow, May 31st, here is a beautiful new piece of writing by AKHF Storytelling Fellow Yatibaey Evans, about the years her grandma Molly spent with Katie and her family in Mentasta. Yatibaey is the Creative Producer and writer for the PBS series “Molly of Denali”, a proud mother of four sons, and an adjunct professor of Indigenous Studies at UAF. Read her story “Along the Trail” here: https://loom.ly/gTLZkHA (fb)