KNOM Exchange: How Can We Prepare Students for Life After High School?


Our Exchange for Thursday, Sept. 10, is over. Thanks to our guests, who were Shawn Arnold, superintendent of Nome Public Schools; Kacey Miller, the director of Nome’s Northwest Campus; and Kevin Busk with NACTEC in Nome.

Our callers included Dan in Nome, who asked questions about supporting students who travel away from home for training or college, and Joanne in Unalakleet who shared experiences of successful schools in the region, and stressed the power of a community’s emphasis on education to influence success.

We also had messages from Sharon in Nome, who wrote about the importance of life skills in addition to academic skills, and Rena in Nome, who wrote about encouraging students’ other talents as a way to give them confidence in school.


KNOM Exchange, every Thursday at 10 a.m., invites you to share your ideas, your opinions, and your voice.

A reimagining of KNOM’s past call-in show, Sounding Board, the Exchange still has the same heart: western Alaska, and the stories and topics that impact our lives in the Norton Sound, along the Yukon River, and across the Bering Strait.

This week on the Exchange, we’ll be talking about education in our region; specifically, how we’re preparing students for life after school, from everything to jobs to college and beyond.

  • What are the education priorities for your community when it comes to life after graduation?
  • What are schools doing, and what can they do more of, to better prepare students for life after high school?
  • What can we do outside of the classroom to prepare young women and men?
  • What kind of skills (from work skills, to life skills, to higher education strategies) do you want to see in your school’s curriculum?

Did you enjoy this KNOM Exchange story?

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