Intern Work Connects Importance of Culture
Adapted from the 2024 Annual Report
The Calista internship opportunity was an eye-opening experience, says Christopher Aqangarr Whitwell, a Calista Shareholder with ties to Marshall and a former intern. He attributes his internships with Calista and Yulista to growth in his career and growth in his connection to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region.
Whitwell was born and raised in Fairbanks and Anchorage and visited his family’s village of Marshall when he was 6 years old. His grandfather had passed away and they named the Marshall airport after him, the Marshall Don Hunter Sr. Airport.
“Going to the village at that time was instrumental to me. I saw our culture and life in the village,” he says.
Whitwell’s favorite subsistence activities are fishing and picking berries, and he fondly remembers cutting up moose meat with his mom in Fairbanks.
“My internship at Calista was the first time I learned about Yuuyaraq and our culture’s ideology,” Whitwell says. “We are working for our people and our culture. Keeping our culture alive will not be easy, but it’s something we must do.”
Calista internships are very conducive to how our corporation can help itself. We grow as the company grows.
Christopher Whitwell, Calista Shareholder & Intern in 2024 and 2025
Whitwell is working on his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Leadership & Management at Ottawa University in Surprise, Arizona.
“I decided to double-major because of my passion for the social sciences. I can use it for a steppingstone for my future,” Whitwell says.
Whitwell’s career path in business stemmed from experience as a chef in Alaska. His chef experience helped lend to a position with a San Francisco tech start-up that eventually sold to an international corporation. Eventually, his career in the restaurant and tech businesses took a different direction when the pandemic shut down much of the world. Scholarships from Calista Education & Culture and his Tribe were able to support his shift.
“I had a whole career, and the world changed [during COVID], so I decided to go back to school,” says Whitwell. “These scholarships I’ve received through my dad’s side from the Ottawa Tribe and my mom’s side with the Calista Education scholarship have helped me tremendously. I would not be able to go to college without these scholarships.”
Whitwell encourages other Shareholders to go to school and take advantage of the internship opportunities with Calista and its subsidiaries.
“Calista internships are an important way for our corporation to help itself while helping Shareholders. We grow as the company grows,” he says. “Calista works in forwarding our culture through its traditional-based values and cultural teachings within the course of the internship. I didn’t plan on working for Calista when I was going to school and now that’s my main focus—to get through school and join Calista to help our people.”