Outer Coast service projects take many, many forms. Some of them are long term–with students going in at regular times every week to volunteer at one place–while others are more seasonal or responsive. This might include harvesting herring eggs for herring season, organizing a gathering for Orange Shirt Day on very short notice, or helping […]
Read More
Herring season has long been a blessing on this island in Lingít Aaní, nestled off the glacial coasts of Southeast Alaska. Herring season, marked by the return of massive schools of the lithe, silvery fish to the waters of the Sitka Sound, also comes with ‘herring weather’: days of rapidly alternating rain, sun, snow, and […]
Read More
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, […]
Read More
In April 2023 Outer Coast hosted its second inaugural Learners Teaching Learners Tlingit language conference, in cooperation with a treasured group of Tlingit teachers, scholars and elders from across Alaska and the Yukon known as the Nerdz Ḵu.oo. One of the centerpieces of the Outer Coast experience, the language conference is an occasion for studying, […]
Read More
Luc Diaz attended the 2021-2022 Outer Coast Year and is now a student at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Luc is originally from Girdwood, AK, spent stints in Maui, HI; Petersburg, AK; and Anacortes, WA; and found his way to Outer Coast after being homeschooled for nearly his whole education. “Being homeschooled […]
Read More
Juky (New York, NY) attended the Outer Coast Summer Seminar 2022 before the start of his senior year in high school. Shortly after he finished the program, he wrote this story reflecting on his experience. As a child of a frugal and low-income family, I never had a chance to travel and truly get to know […]
Read More
Annabelle (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) attended the Outer Coast Summer Seminar 2022 between her sophomore and junior years of high school. On her last day of the Summer Seminar, she wrote this story. Our first swim was at Sam Sing. Sam Sing Cabin is a little structure in a cove about a twenty-minute boat ride from Sitka, and […]
Read More
In April 2022, Outer Coast hosted the inaugural Learners Teaching Learners: A Tlingit Language Conference at Outer Coast. A study group of teachers and learners (who lovingly call themselves the Tlingit Nerdz) came to Sitka from across Southeast and the Yukon for a sunny weekend immersed in Tlingit language alongside Outer Coast students, staffulty, and […]
Read More
You’re awoken by a glimmer of sunlight streaming through the window of your dorm room. “Finally, a sunny day!” you think as you prepare for another morning at the Summer Seminar.
Read More
Students cook meals for the community in the Labor pillar.
Read More