Tukaan Dan grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and has attended two semesters of the Outer Coast Year in 2023. Over the course of his time in Sitka, Tukaan has become a leader in the Outer Coast community. This fall, he accepted a two-year term as the student representative on the Outer Coast Board of Trustees, and last summer, Tukaan worked with Outer Coast as a First Alaskans Institute Administrative Assistant at the 2023 Summer Seminar.
Tukaan recently took some time to share about his experience at Outer Coast and what education means to him as an Alaska Native student.
Why did you decide to come to Outer Coast?
One of my biggest motivations in applying for Outer Coast was to figure out if I’m ready for college, and if I have the maturity to succeed.
At Outer Coast, I can dip my toe in and see if college is going to be meaningful for me. For a lot of my family, college is not really an option — or it’s not something that people want to do. But growing up, one of my parents’ biggest goals was for us to do well in school so that we could eventually go to college, get a degree, and have a good career.
Another reason I was interested in Outer Coast was the proximity to my family in Anchorage. I appreciated having flexibility for my parents to come with me when I first started here and also having them support me while I’m here — and having Outer Coast help them do that.
What was your experience in school like before coming to the Outer Coast Year?
Growing up, school was always difficult for me. I didn’t really know how to interact with the other students, and I was also not able to sit still or listen to the teacher very well. I struggled with these issues throughout elementary school and all the way into high school. Once I made some friends, the social aspect of school got a little bit easier. As I got older, I tried to find things that interested me and that I could really be engaged in, but I didn’t feel like I had much of a purpose. I did not have the motivation that some of my peers had.
I grew up in Anchorage, and something that was really difficult in high school was being able to connect with my cultural identity. It never really felt comfortable to learn my language. My mom started a Yup’ik Language Club at school. I went to the club, but the comments that some students made [about me] really hurt me. As someone who doesn’t know their language, it was hard to feel safe from judgment. So I just stopped going. There is a lot of shame in that sort of thing. It was something that is really important to my mom, and [my peers’ comments] made me feel like I didn’t belong.
It’s not uncommon for Alaska Native students to drop out of high school. I got the credits I needed and graduated, and I was just glad that I had a diploma. I didn’t really feel proud about graduating high school — I felt relieved.
How would you describe academics at Outer Coast?
Here, I can be myself and I still have the support that I need. In academics, one of the most exciting things is that in Indigenous Studies I get to learn from Alaska Native role models. They are powerful, influential people. For a lot of families nowadays, you don’t have those role models — and so you don’t see that kind of success. This is the first time I am getting to do something like that. I’ve been much more enthusiastic about going to class, because none of the learning here makes me feel vulnerable like it would in high school.
To have a chance to learn an Indigenous language is really special, because it is something that used to just be a given. You would be in your community, and you would know the language of that community. But now, it is so much harder to do that. Here at Outer Coast, it feels like I can learn how to continue that tradition in the 21st Century. Just knowing that this kind of learning is still possible — it can be achieved and it is happening here — has been inspirational.
Being able to learn an Indigenous language and learn from Alaska Native leaders makes Outer Coast stand out from other schools, where it seems like a lot of times these things aren’t taken as seriously. And as Outer Coast grows and people learn about it, as it becomes a college, I hope that it continues to inspire people to try to learn their language.
A few months after you arrived at Outer Coast, you decided to start going by your Yup’ik name, Tukaan. Could you share more about that?
Sometimes, if people hear a name that’s different or from another language, they don’t really know how to say it right, or they don’t understand why you want to be called that. But at Outer Coast, I felt comfortable to say that my name is Tukaan, and let people know that is what I want to be called.
One of the things that really made my namesake special, both now and when I was a kid, is that you, as a namesake, are a reincarnation of the person that had the name and who has passed away. It makes you feel this responsibility — there’s a whole other person before me who had this name, and you feel like you have to carry it with pride and continue to make it a name with a good reputation. Even now that I am an adult, and I don’t really know my namesake’s family that well, I still feel that responsibility to do well by them. When I’m here at Outer Coast and people call me Tukaan, it makes me proud. And it makes me want to do good. To have people call me that reminds me of how special my namesake is.
Do you see yourself as a leader?
Before I came to Outer Coast, if I was in a leadership role, I felt kind of insecure. Now, even when I am not expecting it or feeling ready for it, I feel much more comfortable being a leader. When people are looking to me to give a solution, or say the right thing, or come up with something that makes the mood change a little bit — I feel much more comfortable doing that in a big group.
I have had a lot of growth in my social skills and in working with people. In part, that is just from living in a smaller community — it’s easier to work out relationships with people. Normally, if I have problems working with someone or living with someone, I can kind of just avoid that relationship or that person. But at Outer Coast, it’s not that easy. Here, it is very noticeable when people look the other way and try to ignore a problem instead of working it out. That has been really important for me. Here, I realize how important building relationships with everyone that you’re living with, and going to class with, is.
Outer Coast seeks to be rooted in place and community. How have you related to the community of Sitka while at Outer Coast?
Doing things with people in Sitka has made me feel like I am a part of Outer Coast’s community and the Sitka community. I am really able to get to know people in Sitka through working with them or helping them out with something. Because this is such a small place and it is so tight-knit, when I am able to do things with community members — like go fishing with Tad, or work at the Beak — I am developing positive relationships with people who will still be interacting with Outer Coast after I leave. I am super grateful to have the agency to build those relationships. And here in Sitka, there is real accessibility to culture bearers. We bring them into our Outer Coast community lunches, our community feasts, our classrooms. When you listen to an elder, you hear a story or a lesson. They have experience. They know how to deal with life and how to act correctly in the world. It is really powerful.
What are you taking away from Outer Coast in what you want your education to look like in the future?
Growing up, I just thought going to college meant going to a four-year university. But since I’ve been at Outer Coast, I have seen a lot of opportunities for education that aren’t as intimidating as going to a big, four-year college.
It can take a while to really figure out what you want your career to be or what you want to study. I have met other students here who are thinking the same things, and this has opened up doors that I never really thought were there. Knowing that success will look different for different people has made me a lot more excited about applying to college.
Seeing myself succeed here makes me feel like I could also succeed at a place like University of Alaska Anchorage, or Fort Lewis, or some other school further away from home where there might be more adversity.
After nearly a full year in Sitka as an Outer Coast student, intern, and community member, Tukaan will wrap up his time at Outer Coast in December 2023. We are so grateful to have had Tukaan in our community and can’t wait to see what he does next.