Sheldon Jackson College: a 125-year coming-out party: Alaska's oldest, continuously operated is on a roll.

• Author: McCorkle, Vern C.
• Position: From the Publisher

After more than a century and a quarter of quietly educating rural Alaska's youth, both Native and non-Native, Sitka's little Sheldon Jackson College is being discovered--and how!

Thanks are due not only to its long heritage, but also in large part to President C. Carlyle Haaland, a professional educator with more than 30 years in higher education. Under his steady hand, SJ, as the college is familiarly known, has risen from the ashes. The college has come back from the brink of financial despair and attracts students and financial supporters from all across Alaska and beyond. As the oldest continuously operated educational institution in Alaska, SJ has grown from a trade school, grade school, high school and junior college into a fully accredited four-year private liberal arts college.

Graduates are trained in business administration, primary and secondary education, marine science/aquaculture, outdoor leadership, entrepreneuership, human service, and a new and very popular, village management curriculum.

Approximately 250 students are enrolled in full-time and part time career paths. That number has grown steadily in the past few years since SJ began to focus on providing students the kinds of training that Alaska employers need the most. Once a degree or certificate has been awarded, Alaska students often return to serve and lead in their home communities. Haaland calls this approach a "Grow Your Own" program and it is getting the attention of major corporate and private financial interests in Alaska and elsewhere.

Recently, Outside magazine researched hundreds of college campuses...