We began work this month with The Aleut Community of St. Paul Island. This tribal government has a strong vision to have empowered, healthy families contributing to a thriving culture and sustainable community on this island that is located 750 miles west of Anchorage in the Bering Sea.
Declining trends in employment and education, coupled with a desire for more educational and vocational training opportunities and a desire for increased STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) education opportunities, has led to new educational initiatives on St. Paul. The Bering Sea Campus, to be housed in the St. Paul School, will offer degree and certification pathways for students on St. Paul Island, bringing post-secondary education student support and direct onsite instruction into the community. The Bering Sea Campus will provide a facility in which the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Bristol Bay Campus can run its satellite Learning Center. The Bering Sea Campus also will provide a space in which scientists can perform research, such as laboratory analysis and data collection.
Shaffer Evaluation Group is working with the tribal government to build its evaluation capacity, including developing data collection, data management, and validation methodologies for the Bering Sea Campus programs.