Provide service-learning opportunities for Sitka’s youth witha strong emphasis on intergenerational programs. These are funded by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Learn about our Programs

Learn about special Service Projects

Lunch at Swan Lake Senior Center

Fifth graders visit the Swan Lake Senior Center to help serve lunch to community seniors. The programs’ aim is to bring students in contact with seniors, who in the course of their day probably will not interact with young people. The students love serving and the seniors enjoy having the students come. Everyone wins!

Visits to Long Term Care

Learn and Serve has coordinated visit to the Long Term Care unit at Sitka Community Hospital. Third graders spend time weekly visiting with residents. Games and activities are intended to be both fun and to promote interaction and information for all participants.

Mentoring/Tutoring Class

Learn and Serve coordinates a Mentoring/Tutoring Class at Sitka High School. Each student enrolled in the class is assigned to a classroom at Keet Gooshi Heen or Baranof Elementary Schools where they help individuals or small groups of students. This program not only benefits the elementary teachers and their students, but the high school students learn responsibility, commitment, patience and more. The program is steadily gaining in popularity. Enrollment of high school students has grown from 7 three years ago to over 23 last year.

<back to top>

Grandparents Dinner

Every year Community Schools and its Learn and Serve Program sponsors the Annual Grandparents Dinner. Sitka's seniors are invited to attend the free program and bring a grandchild or young guest. The goal is to bring young and old together to learn, share and have fun together in an evening of games, great food and entertainment. This year marked the 16th Annual Grandparents Dinner which was held in October.

Cruises

In 2002 Community Schools inaugurated a new program by sponsoring cruises to remote sites. In May the adventure took us to the old Chichagof mine site in Klag Bag on Chichagof Island, and in September to the Goddard Hot Spring area and adjacent fox farm islands. Historians, naturalists and former residents of these areas were onboard making presentations and sharing photos, maps and first-hand information. The goal of these trips is to bring elders and other members of the community together for a fun day of learning and sharing. The trips were both sold out and we plan to schedule more in the future.

Baby Quilt Project

On March 12th, the Twelvth Annual Baby Quilt Project was held in the Home Ec. Room at Blatchley Middle School. Community Schools, Public Health Nursing, and the Early Learning Program, jointly sponsor the event. Seventeen 4th - 8th graders along with thirteen adult volunteer helpers designed and sewed quilts which will be given to newborn babies during a home visit by Public Health Nurses. The children have fun learning new skills in the process of making a beautiful gift for a baby.

Other Special Events and Service Projects

There are a number of special events that occur once a year, which provide service-learning opportunities for young people. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Elizabeth Peratrovich Day and Earth Day are three of these. Various activities focus on the event and include classroom presentations, celebrations, environmental cleanups, and more.

<back to top>

High school freshman interview elders from the community, and write their stories, which are published in a book. The books have been very popular, and are a way of putting personal histories of the elders and information about our community into print. The students not only learn how to interview and write the stories, but most of all they gain insight from their contact with the elders. 
This program was formerly known as the S.A.S.S.Y. program (Seniors and Sitka Sound Youth.)

• Volume I     "Conversations with Sitka Elders"  (out of print) • Volume II    "Sitka at War" (Limited copies available) • Volume III   "Exploits & Escapades" • Volume IV   "Learning to Live Together" • Volume V    "Havin’ Fun" • Volume VI   "When I Was Your Age" • Volume VII  "America’s Newest Star" • Volume VIII "Stories Told, Lessons Learned" • Volume IX   "Remembering Pearl Harbor"  (out of print) • Volume X    "Further Conversations With Sitka Elders" • Volume XI   "Those High School Days" • Volume XII  "Remembered Times...The Days and    Events of Sitka Seniors" • Volume XIII  "Loving Alaska - Why We Live Here" • Volume XIV  "Thoughts About Family"

<back to top>

Community Schools partners with the Library of Congress

Sitka Community Schools is enrolled as an official partner in the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress and will provide information and assistance to anyone interested in participating in the project.
We are seeking veterans and others in the community to be interviewed, to conduct interviews, and to help with the project. 
As part of our Learn and Serve program high school students are conducting, recording and indexing interviews with veterans.
The recordings and all associated documents will be archived locally by the Sitka Historical Society and with the Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, and become part of the National Registry on the Veterans History website.

View photos and information about Sitka Veterans.

If you are a veteran and would like to be interviewed, or a community member who would like to participate, please call
Darlene Dehlin  747-8670, or email to 
dehlind@mail.ssd.k12.ak.us

<back to top>

The mission of the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress is to collect the memories, accounts, and documents of war veterans from World War I, World War II and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars, and to preserve these stories of experience and service for future generations.

The Veterans History Project relies on volunteers to interview, record, compile and donate materials. All are encouraged to participate; veterans, civilians, adults, young people, men, women, scholars, students, amateurs and experts. In turn, participants can rely on the Library of Congress to preserve, catalog, and share these collections now and in the future.

Some of these oral histories were recorded in the studios of RAVEN Radio and others were filmed by Sitka High School Digital Media students and their instructor. They are being archived with the Sitka Historical Society and the Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

Ralph Kenneth Ash, Lt. Colonel, Army Air Corps / Air Force

Ken enlisted as a Private, learned to fly, became a pilot and trained other new pilots. He flew P-47 fighter planes on missions in India and China during World War II. Ken wanted to keep flying, staying in the service for 30 years. He became a career officer and flight commander. Serving during the Korean and Viet Nam wars he flew P-39 VIP flights based in the Philippines and photo recon missions in RF-4C Phantoms over Viet Nam. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 4 clusters and Meritorious Achievement Awards. Interviewer: Darlene Dehlin, Community Schools

Roy Daniel Bailey, Private, Army

Roy served during World War II in the 71st Division. After stateside training he was sent to the European theater. He was attached to a heavy weapons infantry unit in combat on the front lines in Europe. Roy was wounded and the only survivor in his unit. The army reported that he was missing in action, and never acknowledged his combat experience. Due to the efforts of members from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska his medals were finally awarded to him in 1999 by Secretary of Defense, William Cohen. They included the Combat Infantry Badge, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, World War II Victory Medal and the North African-European Theater Victory Medal. Interviewer: Dorothy Orbison

[photo not available]

Biographical information not available at posting
Interviewer: Karen Meizner, Sitka Historical Society Director 

Edgar Wilbur Callen, Electrician 2nd Class, Navy Seabees

Ed served in the 100th Seabee Battalion that was building airstrips, and bases on the Gilbert, Marshall and Solomon Islands of the South Pacific. Ed was an Electrician by trade and photographer by hobby. When the Marine photographers on Majuro Island had all been killed, he assumed that role. He photographed bombing runs of Japanese held islands from a Navy dive bomber. A darkroom was setup in a walk-in refrigerator and all the film shot was processed every night. Ed put together a marvelous scrapbook of photographs from his time in the service. Interviewer: Brian Sylvester, Pacific High School student; transcribed by VISTA volunteer Emily Beaulieu.

Walter A. Dangel, Corporal, Army

Walter began his military service in the California National Guard and was called into active duty in September 1940. His unit. the 250th Coast Artillery was sent to Sitka, Alaska in the summer of 1941 where he was a searchlight operator attached to Battery G. Later they were sent to Kodiak, Alaska. Their primary duty at both bases was coastal defense. In 1944 they converted from Coast Artillery to Field Artillery at Ft. Gruber, before going to Germany. Walter had switched from being a searchlight commander to communications. Operating the Battalion Commander's radio he talked with forward observers and spotter aircraft. He served in Germany until 1945. He made a marvelous World War II photo album and a digital copy of the 250th Coast Artillery 1941 Yearbook. Interviewer: Lisa Busch, RAVEN Radio.

Frank Edward Ockert, Staff Sergeant, Army Air Corps

Frank was the first veteran we interviewed and was great to work with. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 and served in the 397th Bomb Group, 598th Squadron. After training Frank was stationed in England, France and The Netherlands. He flew bombing missions over Germany in B-26 Marauders. His position was in the forward belly of the plane under the co-pilot's seat where he dropped bombs on military targets. Although his plane was shot at, he was never wounded. Frank served until 1948 and received the Air medal with 4 clusters and various campaign ribbons. Interviewer: Brian Sylvester, Pacific High School student.

Earl Lee Richards, Gunner's Mate 3rd Class, Navy

Earl enlisted in the Navy on December 2, 1941 when he was 17. After basic training and Gunnery school he was sent to the Bremerton navy yard and then to the battleship Colorado. After refitting the guns in San Francisco, the Colorado headed for Tarawa. Earl operated the 20mm anti-aircraft guns on the main deck. After the battle at Tarawa the Colorado  was hit on the side by enemy fire at Tinian. He was later assigned to her sister ship, the Maryland, which fought at Ulithi and was hit by kamakazis at the battle for Okinawa. Earl loved being at sea and fortunately was never wounded. He was discharged in 1945. Interviewer: Darlene Dehlin, Community Schools.

<back to top>