NACTEC provides Northwest Alaska students a gateway to great careers

NACTEC provides Northwest Alaska students a gateway to great careers

Together the Bering Strait School District (BSSD) and Nome Public Schools (NPS) developed the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center (NACTEC), a joint-venture regional vocational training center located in Nome. NACTEC provides high school students in Bering Strait School District and Nome Public Schools with the necessary resources and skills for employment opportunities, the pursuit of postsecondary education, and independent living skills through instruction in four focus areas: career and technical skills, career exploration, life skills, and work readiness skills.  

The NACTEC website has been redesigned with new virtual training elements embedded to serve our village students this semester. There's a virtual walkthrough element, with efforts underway to embed content about CTE courses, with a limited sample to be offered in a distance or hybrid format this Spring.  

Check out some of the programs being offered through NACTEC this Spring: 

Small Engine Repair - Upper One Studios in Anchorage has recorded more than 30 video segments for a Small Engines course to enable asynchronous and distance learning. The background shows Briggs & Stratton engines ready to ship to village sites, along with the tools needed to teach the class. NACTEC will offer a two-week synchronous option with an instructor leading, then sites can continue with the archived footage to deliver as it fits their schedule. A Native American Career and Technical Education Program (NACTEP) grant partnership with Kawerak, Inc. has purchased all the supplies needed, along with support for videography efforts and website redesign.  

Heavy Equipment Operator - Per a Spring 2020 request to commercial vendor Simformotion, a mobile training solution has been developed, with two Pelican hard cases housing a virtual reality capable hydraulic simulator. An Alaska Community Foundation grant award led to the purchase of three units.   A dozer is under development, scheduled for release by March 30th.  These will be sent to village sites, and then connecting an instructor from the NACTEC sim center. A supporting curriculum provides all that is needed.  

 

Aviation Training - Aviation Ground School and Intro to Aviation training at the village schools will be provided through the NACTEP grant with essential supplies, some new flight simulators, and distance adjunct instructor support at site request. A new crosswind landing simulator was installed in Nome on October 31st. An old book storage room is being remodeled into a multi-purpose simulator center in NBHS and should be completed by March.  

Intro to Health - As NACTEC is now hosting the Northwest Area Health Education Center Director, it is also able to deliver a dual credit HLTH 105 course for NBHS students this semester, and a separate distance delivered course for BSSD. The NW AHEC Director's reach includes Kotzebue and Utqiagvik regions, with plans to expand this training in the future.