Chugach is so proud to manage Job Corps centers across the country. We’re especially proud of the Alaska Job Corps Center and the active role that the students take in their community. We pride ourselves in building community and these students are equally dedicated to making a difference.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019, eight students from the Alaska Job Corps Center, and one of their staff advisors, jumped into the icy waters of Wasilla Lake as part of the 2019 Mat-Su Plunge. While they participated in the highly visible event, three other Alaska Job Corps student volunteers from the security and protective services trade were working hard in cold weather to guide both participants and guests safely to the activities.

The students who plunged into the lake jumped to raise awareness of important issues affecting young people and to elevate the visibility of the Y2Y student organization. Y2Y is a student-led group at Alaska Job Corps, and at all Job Corps centers nationwide, and is dedicated to preventing and eradicating bullying and youth violence. While the Y2Y students jumped to bring awareness to those causes, the $1,000 in funds they raised from the Alaska Job Corps Student Government Association were also donated to the Mat-Su Sertoma Club, which assists residents of the Mat-Su Valley with hearing problems.

The three security and protective services students who volunteered to spend their Saturday helping with this important event, Isaia Kuzmin Krohn, Luis Guintu, and Ryan Schmidt, braved chilly temperatures and busy crowds but were greatly appreciated by the visitors to the event.

The student jumpers say they enjoyed participating in the event, despite the cold water. One of the jumpers, Dorthy Outwater, an office administration student and the president of the Y2Y group, was so eager to jump in, she barely waited for her co-jumpers to get out before she sprinted in.

“It actually wasn’t too cold,” she said. “Plus, this is a great thing to do because it gets our name out in the community. And it doesn’t just get the Job Corps and the Y2Y name out there, but it also gets our cause out there.”

Outwater also says that she enjoys being in Y2Y because of the good they do not only for the students at the Alaska Job Corps Center, but also out in the broader community at large.

The Alaska Job Corps Center is a federally funded career training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and managed by Chugach Educational Services, Inc. The Center is committed to providing the highest quality programs for young adults by offering instructions in academics, trades and life skills through innovative methods that respond to the unique individual and group needs of today’s youth.

For media inquiries, contact Communications
Director Randi Jo Gause

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