Strengthening the Sitka community.
Over their two years in Sitka, Outer Coast students sustain meaningful relationships with local organizations and collaborate on projects to meet the needs of the Sitka community. Students partner with nonprofit, government, and tribal entities, allowing them to make tangible contributions to Sitka while also learning from the broader community. Service at Outer Coast takes many forms. It might be learning construction skills and preserving historic buildings with the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, supporting salmon hatchery operations at the Sitka Sound Science Center, helping knowledge-bearers at the Sitka Native Education Program teach Tlingit language and culture to local youth, or maintaining the Alaska Native Brotherhood Cemetery alongside a local elder and cemetery expert. Through this work, students learn that service is not just an accumulation of hours but a collective responsibility to our community.
Supporting the Outer Coast community.
Service also takes the form of keeping Outer Coast running. By scrubbing a stove all afternoon, preparing a meal for the community, or cleaning the dorm bathrooms, community labor allows the Student Body to live well, together. Through this work students practice taking accountability for oneself and cultivating empathy for one another, and learn that the work of caretaking is just as important as the work of building.
The responsibility is real. Failure is too. Students learn from both.
