President’s Message: Y-K Youth Summit
Andrew Guy, President and CEO
Storyknife, January/February 2025 edition
The Yukon-Kuskokwim Youth Summit through Calista was held in October to coincide with high school juniors and seniors traveling to Anchorage for the Elders & Youth Conference. The Y-K Youth Summit provided our youth from the Region with an understanding of the history, challenges and opportunities of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).
Andrew Guy, Calista Corp. President/CEO
About 40 students from throughout the Y-K Region attended the one-day event held at the Calista office in Anchorage held on October 11. Many students came to the summit through the Kusilvak Career Academy based in Anchorage, providing career opportunities for students in the Lower Yukon School District.
We also welcomed a handful of students who came in from the Region with support from their village Tribe. Calista provided an honorarium in the form of funds to the Tribe, to help cover transportation and lodging expenses. It is vital to have our youth join us for this summit in which we provide an overview on the history of our people and our state, and then delve into Yuuyaraq, known as our Central Yup’ik “way of being.”
The goal for the summit is to impress upon our youth the priorities our company and regional leaders advocate for, including subsistence, infrastructure, land rights and Tribal sovereignty. As all of these issues span decades, we hope the information imparted will inform how our youth tackles them effectively for the benefit of our people.
The summit examined our way of life before Western contact, how it evolved, and the challenges we faced as Alaska Native people adopting a different way of living in relation to land ownership.
The goal for the summit is to impress upon our youth the priorities our company and regional leaders advocate for, including subsistence, infrastructure, land rights and Tribal sovereignty.
Andrew Guy, Calista Corp. President/CEO
When looking at the importance of our traditional values, historical land claims, and Tribal self-determination, it helps provide our young people with perspective. The summit is just the starting block in applying what our youth have learned in regard to where we come from and where we hope to go. We hope this will help our young people succeed as we pass on traditional and practical knowledge to the next generations.
Quyana cakneq to the students who were able to attend and to the Kusilvak Career Academy for bringing a large group of our youth to the summit. Thank you to our staff for dedicating many hours into making this possible. We plan to continue growing from year to year. Quyana.