Gwendolyn Aaberg, a member of the Nondalton Tribe in Alaska (left), and Jaycee Williford a member of the Chickasaw Tribe in Washington (right), are the new recipients of the KGASF scholarship.
Photos: Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation.
The Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation (KGASF) announced yesterday the names of the four Indigenous students, all members of federally recognized Tribes, to whom it has awarded aquaculture scholarships.
The new award recipients - the last of the 2024 funding - are Gwendolyn Aaberg from Alaska, and Jaycee Williford from Washington. Their names join those of previous awardees Allison Carl and Alana Schofield, whose scholarships have been renewed.
As KGASF Executive Director, John Dentler, explained, the Foundation provides financial assistance to Tribal and First Nations students who wish to pursue careers in aquaculture and natural resources.
A native of Nondalton, Alaska, Gwendolyn Aaberg is a member of the Nondalton Tribe, near Bristol Bay, and currently attends the University of Alaska Southeast in Sitka, Alaska, where she is pursuing a degree in Applied Fisheries. Dentler said of her, "Gwendolyn impressed us with her interest in all aspects of aquaculture and mariculture and brings to her studies years of experience fishing for salmon in Bristol Bay."
Joining Gwendolyn the other new award recipient is Jaycee Williford. Native to Sammamish, Washington, and a member of the Chickasaw Tribe, he is a first-year student at the University of Washington's (UW) School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science. According to KGASF note, growing up near Lake Sammamish, Jaycee was impressed by Tribal efforts to restore the lake's native Kokanee salmon, which, as he said, helped him "recognize the importance of aquaculture in salmon restoration efforts."
As said, along with the two new scholarships, the Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation also renewed the two previous grants.
Coming from the Chugach Alaska Corporation and Native Village of Eyak, Alaska, Allison Carl is pursuing an M.S. degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She has a strong interest and experience in marine resources including mariculture and is also a lab manager at the Chugach Regional Resources Commission Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute. About her, KGASF noted that Allison's goals include "being involved in mariculture initiatives in the Chugach area."
The second Indigenous student whose scholarship has been renewed is Alana Schofield, a native of the Keweenaw Bay Indian community in Michigan. She is a junior at Lake Superior State University pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Science. According to KGASF release, Alana's goal is to work with tribal marine and freshwater organisms in relation to natural resources and cultural food sovereignty. Her long-term goal is to obtain her PhD.
The Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2022 to carry out the legacy of the late Kurt Grinnell, a Native American leader of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in Washington State, who passed away in 2021. A strong advocate of Tribal food security and sovereignty, Grinnell recognized that aquaculture - whether shellfish, finfish, or plants such as algae - could be a solution to Tribal food security, and Indigenous reconciliation and wellbeing.
One of Kurt Grinnell's two daughters, Jaiden Grinnell Bosick - who fishes commercially in Alaska -, is the head of KGASF's Scholarship Selection Committee and, since May of last year, also KGASF Board Chair. Commenting on yesterday's announcement she said, "it is exciting to see how much this award has meant to past recipients, and we are looking forward to reaching more Indigenous students in both the USA and Canada."
"On behalf of the Kurt Grinnell family and the KGASF Scholarship Selection Committee, as well as our Board of Directors, we congratulate all the new scholarship awardees," she continued. "We are confident that each of these students will make a substantial and positive impact to Tribal and First Nation welfare through their contributions to aquaculture and natural resource science."
