GeoFORCE Alaska: opportunities in geology for rural students.

• Author: Slaten, Russ
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Natural Resources

This year eighteen high school students from North Slope communities graduated from GeoFORCE Alaska, a multiple year summer program geared toward engaging students to see the relevance of geology in their everyday lives, promoting high school graduation and pursuit of higher education, and perhaps encouraging students to pursue careers in the high tech industries that rely on Alaska's abundant natural resources.

"Being able to see the geology first-hand instead of a picture in a textbook is helpful for the students because it's hard to get across the three-dimensional aspects and the scale and reach of geology, which all comes together when you're standing in a place like the Grand Canyon," says Sarah Fowell, director of GeoFORCE Alaska and a University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) associate professor of geology.

Modeled for Success

The UAF program within the College of Natural Science and Mathematics' Geosciences Department was developed in partnership with and modeled after the longstanding GeoFORCE Texas program from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Rural students from the communities of Nuiqsut, Kaktovik, Barrow, Wainwright, and Point Hope began the program at the end of their eighth grade year in 2012 and have participated every summer until graduating this July, Fowell says.

The program has helped build an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math among rural high school students through an annual weeklong geologic field trip. UAF geosciences professors teach the program as students learn geology at the college level.

"Even though they are Alaskan students, many of them have not had the opportunity to visit the Alaska Range or walk on a glacier; a lot of these iconic features of Alaskan geology area really far from their homes," Fowell says. "Through GeoFORCE they've had the chance to see geology in the field and the opportunity to travel out of state to visit some of our national parks--places where the geology is spectacular--so they can learn what's going on and be able to interpret it."

During the weeklong trip students spend long days in the field with activity-filled experiences and engaged learning. They hear a lecture the night before to prepare for what they will see in the field and then spend most of the day learning the geologic concepts of the area they visit through concrete examples. They conduct a review session with an educational coach who is typically a high school...