Alumni Anchor Leadership Anchorage: Part 2

As Leadership Anchorage (LA) prepares to welcome its 28th cohort, AKHF Director of Leadership Programs Chuck Seaca pulls back the curtain on the ways LA alumni inform, sustain and champion the program. In Part 1, we focused on how LA alumni help prepare for new cohorts through their guidance in recruitment, selection, community impact projects and mentorship. In Part 2, we explore the ways in which LA alumni help build and deepen participant connections across cohorts.

Ongoing Connection

Stephanie Kesler (LA 17) has hosted a summer LA Alumni BBQ at her beautiful home in Government Hill for many years. This presents an opportunity for LA alumni to connect across graduation years and to meet the incoming Cohort. This summer, we had around 50 people from across decades join us. Most Cohorts also organize and hold their own reunion every year to stay connected.

“Peter and I love hosting the LA Summer BBQ. It gives us an opportunity to love up our old buddies from LA17 (LA17 rules!!!)," says Kesler. "We also get to greet the always-fabulous new incoming cohort and meet newer alumni – members of the ever growing 'Long LA Line.' Leadership Anchorage Alumni are everywhere and we’re making a difference in so many ways. It’s wonderful to gather in one place and celebrate!” 

Locations

Leadership Anchorage rotates throughout Anchorage to introduce participants to different parts of the city. Alumni often give us access to venues that we otherwise would not be able to use. Over the past two years, we have been hosted by Josh Franks (LA 22) and Grace Coles (LA 22) at the Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s Denełchin Lab; by Grace Gallagher (LA 22) and Weston Eiler (LA 25) at the University of Alaska Anchorage; and by Rayette Sterling (LA 17) at the Mountain View Library. We are so grateful for the use of these wonderful spaces.

Watch: Drum making at Denełchin Lab Video

Guest Faculty

Alumni are often engaged as Guest Faculty throughout the program. Recently, participants have learned from Ayyu Qassataq (LA 13) and Kima Hamilton (LA 25). Ayyu, our 2024 Alumni Award winner, worked with participants to better understand the context of where we live. Kima worked with them to better understand their responsibilities to themselves and to others in the community. Both emphasized the power of listening deeply to a group of people from diverse perspectives and taking the time to understand yourself in relationship to the people and places surrounding you.

Each Leadership Anchorage cohort runs from September through May. But for many, graduation is the start of a deep and profound collaboration with the program that has led it to its 28th year. A heartfelt thank you to all of the people who ground this program in the Anchorage community.