‘LYSD’s Kusilvak Career Academy: CTE focusing on Careers, Culture, and Leadership’ by AC

Careers, Culture, and Leadership are the core tenets of the Kusilvak Career Academy (KCA), a program for 11th and 12th-grade students in the Lower Yukon School District (LYSD). 

In 2019, the LYSD School board and district leadership sought to help close the equity gap between rural and urban students and how they received their career and technical education (CTE). LYSD’s solution was the Kusilvak Career Academy, a quarterly CTE residential program based in Anchorage. 

To make this vision a reality, the school district purchased and remodeled a hotel for the KCA dormitory, classrooms, and offices. LYSD also partnered with the Anchorage School District to give LYSD students access to King Tech High School’s after-school session. KCA differentiates itself from other CTE programs in the state by providing students with a nine-week intensive residential experience.   

Conrad Woodhead, the Director of KCA, has led the program since its inception, bringing over 18 years of education experience working in rural Alaska and a passion for providing opportunities for students in rural communities. When the district began designing the program, “there was no roadmap,” Woodhead said. “This model, at this scale, had never been tried.”

Woodhead shared that the benefit of offering a quarterly program was that students could choose when they wanted to attend KCA. The nine-week timeline allows students to be home during subsistence seasons, participate in athletics, and not miss out on the opportunities offered at KCA. “This is what sets our program apart,” Woodhead shared. “The light at the end of the tunnel during a nine-week program is all the more manageable for students who haven’t been away from home often.” For students who want to continue with the CTE program, they can apply to attend more than one session. 

Outside of the partnership with King Tech High School, KCA also partners with other organizations to expose the students to new career opportunities. KCA partners with T3 Alaska, Renewable Energy Alaska Project, and Alaska Resource Education. Woodhead shared that because of these partnerships, KCA students have been offered internships and have been able to include the skills they gain at KCA on their resumes.  

KCA students also gain leadership experience. KCA works with students on public speaking skills so they can share their own stories. One example Woodhead shared was a student who testified in front of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. “It was pretty cool seeing one of our kids, 17 years old, talking about how the lack of fish has affected them and their family with leaders from Washington.” 

KCA aims to prepare students for the future they see for themselves. “If they see themselves in the village, we want to support that. If they see themselves living somewhere else, we want to support them as well and help them navigate that option successfully,” Woodhead said. The staff at KCA is 70% Alaska Native, with most of the staff having lived and taught in rural Alaska. Woodhead shared that his goal is to have the school staff be relatable to the students with their life experiences, sharing their stories and how they found success living in urban Alaska after growing up in the village. Woodhead said, “Those very real conversations with students about what it takes to live in rural and urban Alaska is eye-opening for all our students.”   

While KCA prepares high school students for their careers following graduation, the school emphasizes culture. Knowing the adverse history of boarding schools in Alaska, KCA created its program with sensitivity to that history, ensuring Alaska Native culture was respected. “The thing about KCA as a boarding school that is different is that culture is placed right at the top of our logo and embedded within everything we do,” Woodhead said. 

KCA has partnerships with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to help provide cultural activities. School staff lead projects building drums and ulus with students, and the school invites an artist in residence every quarter to expose students to cultural art. “Without the culture piece, we would just be another boarding school being done to kids instead of for kids,” Woodhead explained.        

Since opening in 2019, the Kusilvak Career Academy has completed 24 nine-week sessions, filling over 700 session slots and serving around 500 individual students. Woodhead expressed that KCA’s success is due to its exceptional staff dedicated to students. “We would not be the program we are without the people that work here. Our staff is very kid-focused in helping meet all of students’ needs.” 

You can learn more about the Kusilvak Career Academy by visiting their website or Facebook page.   

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