Welcome Your 2019 Summer Associates!

After a whirlwind recruitment and first day setbacks, Fairbanks is hosting 11 summer associates at 9 sites. These VISTA responsibilities differ from full-year VISTAs. Instead of focusing on capacity building, summer associates perform direct service for their sites.

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Lisa Cogen serves with Fairbanks Youth Advocates at Fairbanks' youth shelter, The Door. She helps prepare and provide meals to the youth as well as supporting their on-site community garden. She also participates in community outreach.

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Raina Follet serves at the Boys & Girls Club, working with kids from age 7 to 18. She works directly with the kids, providing support, building relationships and resolving conflict.

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​Devon Gerstenfield serves with the Fairbanks Soil & Water Conservation District. He provides support to community gardens around town, including mowing, weeding, planting and watering. He also presents learning opportunities to the children involved in JP Jones’ summer program.

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​Kim Green and Amber Mensch serve at ThrivAlaska in the Head Start Birth to Five program. They work directly with the children, assisting the teachers in their daily activities.

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​David Leslie serves the North Star Community Foundation as a social media manager and instructor. He produces workshops to teach non-profits how to effectively set up and utilize social media communications.

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​Emily Markkanen serves at Access Alaska with their summer work program, which provides hands-on training to local high school students in special education programs. Her position involves providing guidance, mentoring and modeling positive behaviors to students.

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​Grace Martin and Evan Taylor serve at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Libraries. They assist the librarians with the children’s Summer Reading Program. They also come up with ideas for passive programming and community outreach. Grace is located at the Noel Wien location while Evan serves at the North Pole Branch.

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​Imani McGowan serves at the JP Jones Center with their children’s summer program. The program involves feeding children lunch as well as partnering with the Children’s Museum and Soil & Water Conservation District to provide science based learning opportunities.

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​Sheila Vent serves with the Fairbanks Wellness Coalition. She creates graphics as well as posts for FWC to use on social media and their website. She also supports the organization through community outreach.