Theme: Building Capacity

Last year we launched with 'Intimate Space'. This year we continue to build capacity and stretch ourselves outside of our comfort zone. It's by building capacity that we are able to reach our goals, realize dreams, and grow as individuals and as a human race.

Building Capacity. What does it mean to you?

West Valley High School (DeWilde Auditorium)
3800 Geist Road
Fairbanks, Alaska, 99709
United States

Amy Helmericks

Mother

Amy Jane Helmericks been married 16 ½ years to a man who is her match. She is the mother of three, homeschool teacher of two. Amy was the kid who found encyclopedias and quote collections to be real page-turners; she knew a lot of stuff, but didn’t understand her own limits. In 2010 she fell into a stress-induced depression that led her to study things she’d never planned on. As someone who loves both people and words, her time is filled with the daily tasks of food, caretaking and general life-sharing, but her head is filled with Story.

Arlo Davis

UAF Arctic and Northern Studies Student

Arlo Nasruk Davis is from Nome and Selawik, Alaska. He is the son of Joseph Davis and Martha Ramoth, grandson to Arthur Davis and Nancy Fanestil, and Ralph and Emma Ramoth. He has been to all four northern hemispheres and lived in or traveled through fourteen of the United States, including the nation’s capitol. Living mostly within the Arctic or sub-Arctic, Ar lived in Alaska’s Southeast for a few years, where he learned what non-snow precipitation is. Basing the tempo of life in the tundra, with its food, climate, weather, and communications, has given Ar a way to see different lifestyles with their differences and similarities. Having recently graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a major in English and a minor in Dance, he is now at the University of Alaska Fairbanks studying in the Arctic and Northern Studies program, focusing on Arctic Policy.

Eric Stevens

Science Liason, Geographic Information Network of Alaska

Eric Stevens was born and raised in North Dakota and moved to Alaska for the nicer winters. Eric worked for the National Weather Service as a meteorologist in Nome, Anchorage, and Fairbanks for 18 years. Since 2012 Eric has worked at the Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus to facilitate the integration of GINA’s satellite imagery into the forecast process at NWS offices across Alaska.

Falk Huettmann

Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology, UAF

Falk Huettmann has lived in Alaska for over a decade. He has published over 6 books and almost 200 research publications on issues related to data and the Global Village. He is a Professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and works several months per year in the remote field. Falk's research focus is primarily on ecological system analysis for generic trends and metrics using advanced methods like machine learning, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing and open access data and open source code analysis across disciplines.

Helen Bradley

Prevention Coordinator, Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living

Helen Louise Bradley is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland but has happily called Fairbanks home for the past two years. Helen has a BSc in Forensic Psychology from the University of Abertay Dundee and a background in working with people to see their potential. Helen currently coordinates violence prevention efforts for the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living. She comes from a family of adventurers who care deeply about those around them and who like to sing (very poorly).

Jimmy Fox

Conservationist

Jimmy Fox is a trained biologist with 27 years in the field of conservation in the USA. Over the years his work has benefited greatly from social science research. He believes the key to conserving Nature and protecting human peace and prosperity is through understanding people. Like many, he's dedicated his life to living sustainably and helping others do so too.

Kevan Walker

Marriage & Family Therapist

Kevan is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, though prefers the title “Relentless Collector of Magical Moments” (borrowed from acclaimed Photographer Stephen Wilkes) due to the exotic lives he’s uncovered whilst consulting the human beingness of others. Through his Narrative Therapy practice in Fairbanks, Alaska, Kevan enters conversations from a collaborative, appreciative, & curious position to then with his consultants “spit in the soup” of taken-for- granted societal norms, discover & illuminate the adventurous & exotic stories that have been edited out of their lives. He’s been most interested in engaging in discussions around: masculinity, white privilege, medical dialogues, colonization, Dignified Defiance, Latter-Day Saints, & whatever else piques his & other’s curiosity.

Michael Bork

Laughter Yoga Teacher

Michael Bork’s goal in life is to “Spread Mirth on Earth.” In addition to a Master’s degree in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Michael is a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Michael has over two decades of leadership and non-profit management experience. Using principles of positive psychology and authentic leadership; he specializes in leadership development, organizational team-building, occupational and organizational change management, occupational stress management, and both team and individual executive coaching. For the past year, Michael has operated a free, weekly Laughter Yoga club in Fairbanks; and has engaged with many organizations to spread the Laughter Yoga message both locally and nationally.

Michael Shaeffer

High School English Teacher / Poet

Originally from South Dakota, Michael Shaeffer has competed at the National Poetry Slam on three separate occasions. Sargent Press (Washington, D.C.) published his first book last year, a collection of 49 pop-culture poems called Of Licorice and Lunatics. Two of his plays were performed last month as part of the annual One-Minute Play Festival in Anchorage. In June, he will be one of 16 individual poets competing at the annual Rustbelt Poetry Slam in Minneapolis. In July, he will take a new one-man show to the Fringe Festival in Kansas City. He enjoys teaching poetry, drama, and sports literature here at West Valley High School.

Michelle Shero

Marine Biologist

Michelle Shero’s research focuses on the physiological plasticity of marine mammals, and the impacts that this has on performance (i.e., diving behavior and reproductive success). Her goals are to determine how marine mammals are able to “make a living” at the ends of the earth, and implications for how these animals would be affected with ecosystem structure disturbance. This work has taken Shero from the laboratory in Alaska, to veterinary colleges in Canada, and across the world having made ten trips to Antarctica over the past six years. Originally from Maryland, Shero received her B.A. in Biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and her Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks as an NSF graduate fellow. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Anchorage university campus. Shero’s work has been published in scientific journals and presented at conferences world-wide.