Kawerak's mentors help Bering Strait students through the leap to college

Leaving a Bering Strait village for a university in Anchorage or Fairbanks is a bigger leap than the mileage suggests. All at once, a first-year student is far from family, adjusting to a new culture, and facing the academic grind — usually for the first time, and often alone. Kawerak's Peer Mentor Program exists for exactly that moment, pairing new students from the region with older ones who've already made the same leap and come out the other side.

Roberta Miller knows how much the small things matter. A master's student at UAF from Unalakleet who served as a mentor, she measures progress in modest, honest increments. "Just getting out of bed and attending class is an achievement in itself," she said. "Accomplishing these small little goals is something to be proud of... small goals help in the long run."

For Martin Olson, of Golovin, the encouragement paid off in ways he didn't expect. "Because of their advice, I was able to achieve a lot in my first year of college and even got to study abroad in Japan," he said. Just as valuable, he found, was being connected to other students who understood the Bering Strait — people who didn't need the region explained to them.

The program is built for the year students need it most, a ready-made network for when the distance from home feels widest. This cycle's sign-up window has closed, but families can follow the next one at kawerak.org/peermentor.