Due to COVID-19, the challenges facing our students, families, and communities this year couldn’t be greater, and once more afterschool professionals across Alaska rose to meet challenges to ensure student success! In a flash, these afterschool educators transformed their programs to meet new student needs caused by the pandemic while ensuring safety and relationship building was at the core of their actions. The Alaska Afterschool Network is thrilled to recognize five outstanding afterschool professionals who act as everyday superheroes in our youths’ lives during Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week, April 19 - 23, 2021.
These five Afterschool Superheroes inspired teens to reach for greatness, transforming a hockey rink into a summer camp, helping students understand the legal system, creating safe places for teens to connect online, and engaging students in outdoor education via Zoom. Join us in celebrating their incredible commitment and passion for our youth!
Mo Dart, Teen Program Coordinator, Boys and Girls Club of Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK)
Mo Dart, who has been working with Boys & Girls Clubs since 2019, has gone above and beyond expectations as an Afterschool Professional! She has initiated new projects at the Boys & Girls Club of Fairbanks Teen Center, and has personally engaged club members in art, games, and activities, as well as in projects to prevent underage drinking, suicide, and other substance use. One colleague says that Mo is “incredibly caring and hardworking,” and an “influential, positive adult role model in the lives of the youth she works with.”
This past spring, Mo successfully supported a senior teen in the Boys & Girls Club of America Youth of the Year competition. Under Mo's guidance, this youth won at the Boys & Girls Club of Southcentral Alaska organization level as well as the statewide competition, and will go on to compete in the Pacific Regionals. Mo's dedication to this youth helped make this accomplishment possible. Her high expectations and her commitment to challenging and supporting students at the Boys & Girls Club has continued to “keep the club a safe and positive place for youth of all ages.”
Nominated by: Amy Reggiani, Boys and Girls Club of Alaska, Fairbanks
Pam Gingue: Program Coordinator of Gateway After-school Programs (GAP), Alaska Gateway School District (Tok, AK)
A true hero can stay positive and optimistic even in the face of adversity. Last summer, this Superhero stepped up to the plate to coordinate and offer a summer day camp program for kids while facing the innumerable challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of these challenges, during this summer the school building was not available due to a sprinkler system replacement, forcing the program to operate outdoors on a hockey rink. Despite all these hardships, Pam remained a positive and energetic force in her afterschool program. According to those who work with her, Pam has the type of energy that is contagious. One of her colleagues says that during the program “she met students every morning with a smile on her face and words of encouragement. She has made a difference in many kids’ lives just by being herself.”
Nominated by: LeAnn L Young, Alaska Gateway School District
Jazzanne Gordon- Fretwell: Executive Director, North Star Youth Court (Fairbanks, AK)
Jazz has spent over 10 years in service at the North Star Youth Court, which helps train and inspire young people to become attorneys, judges, and mediators, and to better understand laws and the criminal justice system. This has led several students to graduate high school and pursue higher education and employment in the legal field. Jazz’s dedication to the students she serves has helped the organization through budget cuts as well as through the COVID-19 pandemic, and, as one of her colleagues states, “She constantly reminds our members that they can be anything in the world, and they’re limited solely by their imagination.”
The colleague added that the North Star Youth Court “would not be as strong and successful as it is were it not for Jazz. She brings a smile to everyone’s face when she enters a room, and I think giving her the title of superhero would likely be an understatement.”
Jazz’s invaluable contributions are well known throughout the organization she works for, these stories include offering “to personally pay for the plane ticket for one of our members to attend a conference they couldn’t afford,” and one member tells of “how her kind words and uplifting attitude helped me get through my own challenges… but what makes Jazz truly extraordinary is that her kindness and support isn’t limited to those who are struggling.”
Nominated by: JoLee Giuchici, Zachary Mason (former NSYC participant), and Charles Mason
Sierra Moskios: R.E.C. Room Coordinator, Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic R.E.C. Room, (Homer, AK)
Sierra’s efforts have led to a revival of the R.E.C room’s (Youth Resource & Enrichment Co-op) online presence, which has not only helped to increase outreach and attendance, but also aided with the program’s ability to keep in touch with participants during the decreased in-person time brought with COVID-19. Sierra also planned and executed the R.E.C. Room's first ever Virtual Artwalk, creating slides for each youth artist to be honored, securing a local youth artist to deliver a keynote, and applying for a received mini grant, used to provide participants with gift cards to the local art store and to compensate the local artist's time. She reaches out to parents when needed to build meaningful relationships with them and to understand how to best support their child. She reaches out to participants on a regular basis to offer resources and support, and to help them to feel included by encouraging them to join in and engage.
“Sierra's practice of creating individual relationships with the youth that we serve and providing them with the resources, or connections to resources that they may need beyond our afterschool programs offerings, is essential to the health of our community”, says a colleague of hers.
Nominated by: Liz Pileckas and Tyler Schlieman, R.E.C. Room
Julie Johnson: Environmental Educator, US Bureau of Land Management Campbell Creek Science Center (Anchorage, AK)
Afterschool Superhero Julie Johnson has had an immense impact on student’s lives this year by developing a highly engaging online curricula so that students can still get outdoors and experience nature even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The year-long program focused on animal adaptations and incorporating education standards with social emotional learning. Each quarter, the students practiced Alaska Animal Olympics, flapped like birds, sang salmon songs, learned to track animals, and identified animal adaptations. Feedback from the students has shown that they gained a better understanding of science and demonstrated deeper empathy for others and for the natural world. For example, one student stated: "What I intend to do differently in my life is that I want to make the world a better place and that everyone has the best life ever then before," and, "I want to keep learning and try new thing[s]."
Julie is a staff member at the US Bureau of Land Management Campbell Creek Science Center, which has partnered with Anchorage School District’s 21st Century Community Learning Center programs for more than 5 years, and in that time she has facilitated field trips and school visits, developed trusting relationships with the participants and teachers, and created valuable learning experiences that help students connect what they learn during the day to outdoor activities in the Afterschool Program. Her nominator tells us Julie “created a stable environment for children to learn, grow, and explore life in a stressful time. The participants grew deeper connections with nature and learned that nature is a healthy and fun place to learn, that adults care about them, and that they have the tools they need to create a positive world around them.”
Nominated by: Nancy Patterson, BLM-CCSC 21st Century Afterschool Partnership