Students attend Native science, engineering conference in Phoenix

JACLYNNE RICHARDS

December 27, 2007 at 10:49AM AKST

For The Arctic Sounder

Seven Kiana students and adults joined hundreds of high school and college students from across the nation in Phoenix in early November for a conference of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

Teacher John Nagy and parent chaperone Heanie Thomas accompanied Kiana High School students Marisa Atoruk, Ely Cyrus, Lee Staheli, Lexy Staheli and myself to the convention.

The society is a national nonprofit organization created "to increase substantially the representation of American Indian and Alaskan Natives in engineering, science and other related technology disciplines," according to the group's Website at www.aises.org .

Kiana's group activities included a University of Arizona campus tour, career fair and several conference mini-sessions on science and engineering.

"I liked the session about electronics because we got to engineer stuff and make stuff work," junior Lee Staheli said.

In one session titled Hands-On Electronics, students rolled up their sleeves and prepared to work with Snap Circuit kits. After an explanation of various experiments from the instructor, students assembled their own kits independently.

Hands-On Electronics offered participants a better understanding of the basic principals of electrical engineering.

At another session, Native American musician Keith Secola, singer Melanie Stormm, and sound engineers Bruce Livolsi and Polena Livolsi demonstrated to conference attendants the relationship between music, math and science by recording a live musical performance using computer technology. Students also took part in recording a song.

Senior students Cyrus and Lexy Staheli, who formed a local AISES chapter for Kiana students, met NASA's first Native American astronaut, John Herrington, whose flight experience includes a 2002 Endeavor space shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

While the Kiana students learned about engineering, science and math, they also found time for other supervised activities, said John Nagy, the teacher chaperone. Those included the student's first professional basketball game.

"I liked the 3-D Imax movie and I liked seeing the students, just before watching their first NBA game they have ever been to, because they were so excited," Nagy said.

The Kiana group watched two Phoenix Suns games, the first being the season opener when the Los Angeles Lakers triumphed by 20 points.

Two days later, though, despite an exceptional performance by Cleveland's LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Suns pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cavaliers 103-92.

The Kiana students said the NBA games were the highlight of the trip.

"I enjoyed watching Steve Nash and LeBron James," said junior Marisa Atoruk, whose favorite NBA player is Nash.

Veteran Kiana educator Jeanne Gerhardt-Cyrus, a former Kiana AISES science fair coach, secured the trip's funding.

Inupiaq Eskimo Jaclynne Richards, a Kiana High School senior, has been a part-time honors distance education student through the University of Alaska Fairbanks since the spring semester. She plans to enroll as a full-time UAF student next fall. This story is distributed by Chukchi News and Information Service, a national award-winning cultural journalism project of Chukchi College, UAF's branch campus in Kotzebue.