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Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
Joining me is doctor Kristen Majaca, who is the dean of career education for uas. Kristen, hello, and welcome.
Speaker 2:Good morning, Cliff. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm delighted to be here.
Speaker 1:We we've got through the, the salmon derby, and and now, we are she's on the on a, what, are we a week away from school? I mean, how did we get there already?
Speaker 2:I have no idea. The summer just kinda dissipated, and we, like, flew into August. And, yeah, school's about two weeks away. The faculty returned this week.
Speaker 1:Nice. Okay. And as we get set for, first of all, congratulations on your new role.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:What what do parents and students need to know about the, upcoming couple of weeks?
Speaker 2:Sure. The time to register for their classes is right now because classes start to fill up and then the classes that don't fill up, we start to make management choices about what's being offered. So, you know, Juno, from what I understand is a, you know, kind of a place where people register maybe a few weeks before classes start. So now's the time. So that's really the most important thing is that students get their schedules together and that they have their plan.
Speaker 2:And then we want to set them up for success. So they need to meet with their advisor, get their books, and start to think about how they're going to kind of make their way from point A to point B. Right. So just that preparation right now is important, but getting those classes registered is right now right now is the time.
Speaker 1:We've got, let's see. High school, one to twelve, goes back at the twentieth. I think kindergarten, pre kindergarten is a week after that. For uas and and, you know, students entering university for the first time. That's a big deal.
Speaker 1:I remember I remember going from the small lockers to to to the big to the big lockers. Right? What do folks need to know about the School of Career Education specifically or your area?
Speaker 2:Sure. So we have a lot of students that are coming to the School of Career Ed, to get their occupational endorsements, to get their associate degrees, to pick up other classes and endorsements. What I think people need to know, or what I'd like for them to know, is that our career endorsements can complement just about any major. So if you're, if you're in business, if you're going for, even, English, getting an endorsement in a particular area such as welding or mining can help prepare people in a very meaningful way for the industries that they'll be working in here in Juneau. So it's not just for people that wanna do welding and construction and marine, kind of for the rest of their careers.
Speaker 2:You know, these occupational endorsements can be really valuable.
Speaker 1:What does that endorsement mean when you're up, you know, for a job against other people that, have similar experience?
Speaker 2:That's a really great question. We work carefully with industry, which involves our advisory board. So we're meeting with professionals that are either in the field, managing the field or going into the field. And we ask them, you know, what are the skill sets that you want your workers to have? What do you want them to know?
Speaker 2:How do you need them to know that? And then we build our occupational endorsements around industry specifics. So it's it's different from somebody just kind of walking in the door, which the industries do here as well, but they have a steeper learning curve and there's a period of time where they have to kind of get up to speed on what they know. So we're really preparing people to kind of walk into a job already with skill sets in hands, their endorsements, and they're endorsed by the professionals here in the community. And, you know, it's also, that person then walking into the job is doesn't have that learning curve.
Speaker 2:So they're able to really understand, how to be a leader more quickly and also how to how to get along really well. My supervisor and I, the provost, we did a tour of the Kensington Mine last week on Thursday.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:It was wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we had, you know, a lot of takeaways and I, you know, I can talk about those if you like, but, you know, one of the sure. Okay. So there were two. And the first one I'll say came from my boss, from Scott Billingsley, our provost. And he said, he asked one of the the workers, you know, we're deep down in the mine, we're by the machines.
Speaker 2:And he said, you know, what are you looking for in an employee? So when somebody comes to you out of our programs, what are you looking for? And he said, you know, we're looking for those soft skills. Okay. He said it differently.
Speaker 2:He's like, well, we want them to be able to get along. Like, we want them to have a good attitude. Yeah. You know? And what's what's that mean?
Speaker 2:That those are those soft skills. So, you know, an an occupational endorsement along with kind of a soft skill, set of skills really help somebody succeed. The other, takeaway that I had so I'm new to Juneau. I spent a year in Ukiyagavik, up on the North Slope. I worked at Illisagavik College.
Speaker 2:So, you know, Southeast Alaska is new to me, and the industry on the North Slope is different from the industry here So in when I went down under the mine, I was really I was struck by the visual and the conversation messages that were happening about conservation. I mean, this is a mine that really cares about the environment, that's doing all that they can to preserve and to honor the land and the environment. So, again, that was my key takeaway. I mean, I, you know, I got everything else that I needed, understood everything else I needed, talked to the right people and, you know, just got a good sense of this is what it means to come work for the mines. But that attentiveness to the land, the tradition, and the environment was was something that's, I can't say it surprised me, but but it did because it's just an industry that I haven't interfaced with yet.
Speaker 1:And, you know, I think it's something that the industry probably needs to do a better job of communicating to the the community about because I I think the the stereo stereotypical reaction is that it is so destructive. And to hear that a mind is actually taking those steps is, I wanna say almost well, it's not surprising because we know that the mind has always had that kind of intention. But to hear it firsthand, I I think is really powerful.
Speaker 2:It's it's it's refreshing. And, you know, and I've had kind of those same conversations. So that's really important to me coming into this community as the dean to not only understand how to serve the mines, you know, how to serve construction industry, how to serve marine, not just how to serve those industries, but how to serve the community and act and act as a bridge. Yeah. You know, I'm I'm not the kind of person that's gonna be able to you know, it's just my personality and it's my approach to leadership.
Speaker 2:I have to believe it. It has to it has to be meaningful to me, and you gotta convince me. And if I'm convinced, then then I feel comfortable having those conversations with other people and and trying to have that conversation where, you know, I can help convince them. And that was really, I think, part of the mind. We had a lot of people from the chamber of commerce that were there, people from Uas and a few other community members.
Speaker 2:And that's part of the reason why they do the mind tours is to really show people, you know, it's one thing to be on either side of that debate whenever the industry comes in, but it's another thing to, you know, ten, fifteen yeah. Yeah. Twenty years later to get in there and really see, are they doing what they said they were gonna do?
Speaker 1:Yeah. No kidding. So you said you were new to Juneau. How new did you was this your first salmon derby this past weekend?
Speaker 2:Yes. I'm two months into being here in Juneau. So, yeah. Yeah. I I absolutely love Juneau.
Speaker 2:I've I've fallen in love. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:It it's, it it really we felt the same way. I you know, I I've been involved with these radio stations for almost a decade in some way, but really just moved here three or four years ago. And the first time, my wife and I arrived, it's like, oh, we have to move here. You know, it really is something.
Speaker 2:I heard coming in the door, somebody said, you know, you don't pick Juno. Juno picks you. Yeah. And I was like, yeah. And then I felt that.
Speaker 2:You know, I really felt that.
Speaker 1:So as the, dean of career education in this new role and, somebody's hearing this and they wanna take their first steps, what do they do?
Speaker 2:Sure. So, you know, go to the website and they can apply to either be a degree seeking student or a nondegree seeking student. And as soon as they get their information into the system, they will be contacted by an advisor. We've got a wonderful advisor, her name's Patty Roarich, and she'll reach out personally either by phone or by email, however that person indicates. And then we start the conversation.
Speaker 2:So really the first step, you know, is getting the application in or or calling us, reaching out to me, coming you know, stop by. We're right across from the high school. Just come on by, ring the bell. You know, when school starts, the doors will be open, throughout the day. Just stop in, and Patty's office is right there on the 1st Floor, or they can come upstairs and talk to me.
Speaker 2:And the first thing we do is, you know, we talk to somebody. So, you know, tell me about yourself. You know, what do you like to do? What's the first thing that you built that, that you remember taking apart or building? Like, what gets you excited about kind of going through the day?
Speaker 2:What do you want to be when you grow up? And that's for any age person. Like, still trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. You know, we're all having that kind of ongoing internal conversation. So we get, you know, get to know somebody's story, their narrative.
Speaker 2:And then we start to talk about, you know, what our options are and how do we get them from where they are now to where they wanna be. And that's a career that's making money in industry. Wow. So this starts with that conversation.
Speaker 1:Doctor Kristin Majaca, uas school of career education, the dean of career education. What a pleasure, and welcome to Juno.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Cliff.