Oil Patch Bits: ConocoPhillips Alaska supports education pathways

Alaska Business Monthly said in a press release Aug. 23 that representatives from ConocoPhillips Alaska surprised Northwest Arctic Borough School District officials with a $25,000 grant award to support the Star of the Northwest magnet school now under construction at the school district facilities in Kotzebue. The award came during an afternoon session of the annual Arctic Economic Development Summit Conference held August 2-5 in Kotzebue. Business and industry leaders from the North Slope Borough and the Northwest Arctic Borough met throughout the week united by the theme: “Looking Back — Moving Forward, 10 years together — celebrating our progress.”

Jon Wehde, Northwest Arctic Borough School District director of Career and Technical Education, and Cheryl Edenshaw, director of the Alaska Technical Center, accepted the grant from ConocoPhillips Alaska Community Relations representatives Lisa L. Pekich and Rusty Creed Brown. “This grant will be applied to the Star of the Northwest magnet school’s Process Technology curriculum that serves grades 11-14. That program opens opportunities for young adults in the region to enter careers in the gas, oil, and mining industries,” said Wehde. Star of the Northwest is a career and technical educational consortia effort between the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, the Alaska Technical Center, and the Chukchi rural campus, UAF.