Apply for the 2010 - 2011 School Year Exchange!

Represent your culture, participate in other Alaskan cultures, and build connections among all Alaskans!

We are looking for new schools, teachers, and students to be a part of the Sister School Exchange.

Deadline for applications is May 17.

Download and print application here.

The Sister School Exchange works with public middle and high schools in Alaska. The program begins by creating Sister School pairs between classrooms in rural Alaska with classrooms in urban Alaska. The students, together with their teacher, are called Cultural Ambassadors.

Each teacher has a choice of involving an entire classroom or just a small group in the exchange program. Each team begins with six units called “Destinations” that are designed to help students:

• discover more about the geography of Alaska and the cultures and lifestyles of its people;
• learn a little about key Alaska issues;
• learn what "culture" really means, and how it applies to their own lives;
• share with the world, using digital video and a dynamic website, a little about themselves and their community;
• identify specific topics they’d like to learn more about when they travel;
• prepare for travel to another community and to host the visiting Sister School Ambassadors; and
• tell the story of their exchange and how it has informed their perspective of themselves, their community, and their state.

When students have completed these first six Destinations, five student Cultural Ambassadors and their teacher travel for one week to be immersed in the daily life and times of their Sister School Community. Students spend at least half the day in their Sister School, and live with host families from the community. To cultivate their engagement in civics, students learn first-hand about Alaska as well as about their own community by exploring issues that affect the community and practice problem-solving from different perspectives.

Each Sister School will also host its Sister School Cultural Ambassadors for a week in their home community. After the exchange, each team is expected to give a presentation in their home community to share what they have learned.

All travel costs are covered by the Exchange. The Exchange also underwrites the cost of substitute teachers needed to fill in for traveling teachers.