Kuskokwim Corporation hosts first Evening with an Elder on Zoom Oct. 1

The Kuskokwim Corporation will host the first session of its Evening with an Elder series at 5:30 pm Thursday, Oct. 1, on Zoom, part of the corporation's TKC ROOTS program.

The featured elder is TKC shareholder Jennie Zaukar. Cultural anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan, who has collaborated with Yup'ik elders and written books documenting Yup'ik knowledge and traditions, will join the conversation, according to the registration page. TKC describes the series as a live conversation about "stories, teachings, memories, and the importance of preserving our knowledge."

Registration is required through the session's Zoom page, and registrants receive an emailed link to join.

The series comes as TKC marks its 50th anniversary. The corporation was formed when leaders of 10 Middle Kuskokwim communities merged their village corporations into a single company, and it reports more than 4,300 shareholders living around the world.

TKC also says it now offers GED prep, tutoring, trades training, job readiness services and industry certifications to shareholders and other residents of the Middle Kuskokwim at its Arviiq Regional Economic Development and Training Center in Aniak. The corporation says the region first set out to seek funding for a training center in 1998.