Job Corps prepares students for jobs, life

PALMER — It was a day of looking back, of measuring progress and celebrating successes when the community joined with current and former students and staff Friday to laud the Alaska Job Corps Center’s 20 years of service.

Valley dignitaries added their voices to the Alaska Congressional delegation, and an assortment of other politicians who sent letters or issued proclamations celebrating the center and the thousands of young Alaskans it has launched on trajectories toward their dreams.

Longtime Valley businesswoman and community supporter Janet Kincaid said she was there for the ground breaking, too, swatting mosquitoes and waiting for Rep. Don Young to arrive.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years,” she said.

Kincaid measured the center’s success in terms of its role in the community. She recalled building the A Moosement Park in Palmer and the huge role Job Corps volunteers played in that project.

“We literally couldn’t have done it without them,” Kincaid said. “I appreciate Job Corps and the high standards that they set.”

Former borough manager Don Moore recalled the ceremony, too, noting that the lush campus was once an unused gravel pit.

He said he’s been pleased to hire and work with several graduates from the center during his career.

“You’ll find Job Corps grads all over the state,” Moore said. “They are everywhere.”

Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson said when she meets other Alaska mayors in her role as president of the Mayors Association they about know Palmer through Job Corps. She said Job Corps students are great, if somewhat unwitting, ambassadors for Palmer and the Mat-Su Valley.

“As mayor, when someone mentions Job Corps to me, I know it’s going to be followed by a compliment,” Johnson said. “You are good for our community.”

Photos of past students decorated the halls in the gymnasium where a banquet was organized Friday to mark and celebrate the historic anniversary.

This is the 20th anniversary of the Alaska Job Corps Center, and center director Malyn Smith said it’s the 50th anniversary of the federal Job Corps program, which operates similar programs in each state.

The centers, which provide qualified students with career training and employability skills at no cost, are crucial tools in this era of skyrocketing student loan debt, she said.

Smith said the way to measure 20 years is against the yardstick of student success.

About a dozen students from the center’s first graduating class, including Naomi Bahnke, returned to help celebrate the milestone.

Her voice broke as she struggled to tell those in the audience what Job Corps meant to her and her then 2-year-old son.

She recalled her three years at Job Corps as the first time she felt safe and wanted.

“If I could have stayed longer than three years, I would have,” Bahnke said. “Walt, made you feel like you were part of the family.”

That’s Walt Hall, the Alaska Job Corps Center’s first center director.

She said she’s worked for the federal government for most of her career, the last 10 years in the computer department where she trains others.

“I could never repay what Job Corps has done for my family,” Bahnke told the crowd on Friday.

Panganga Pungowiyi earned her human services certificate from Job Corps in 2010. She said reading the other alumni’s stories she noticed similarities in her own experience growing up.

Pungowiyi said Job Corps was the safest place she’d been since she was a small child. By the time she arrived at Job Corps at the age of 23, she said it had been 15 years or so since she was safe.

“I didn’t tell the woman who took my application that I was being abused,” she told the audience Friday. “I didn’t tell the person who called to say I’d been accepted that I was in danger.”

Pungowiyi said she didn’t really understand the severity of her abuse until a woman at Job Corps showed her the “Wheel of Power and Control.”

She said she learned work and life skills at the center.

“It wasn’t just work skills I needed,” Pungowiyi said. “I needed life skills, too.”

As a result of her leadership experience at the school, she said she now serves in leadership roles in her own community, such as on the board of the women’s shelter, the church council, the Community Alcohol Safety Team; and the Nome Social Justice Task Force.

“I learned how to work harder at everything,” Pungowiyi said.

She concluded her remarks to a standing ovation from the crowd of staff, students, dignitaries and fellow alumni members.

Janice Weiss was the master of ceremonies for the event and paused to tell the audience how powerful Pungowiyi’s words were to her personally.

“Hearing your stories reminds me to look at every student every day and remember they have a story,” Weiss said.

She said many students who seek services at the center never feel comfortable sharing their stories, but everyone has a story.

“We must look at people as people,” Weiss said.

Before the crowd regrouped for a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new Vocational Annex, Walt Hall — the center’s first director — took a turn at the mike. He said the work center staff does is critical.

“I honestly don’t know of anything more important than what we do here, helping young people find their path,” Hall said. “After 20 years, the quality of this program is just incredible.”

For students in the room he shared a bit of wisdom.

“My advice to you is to give yourself the gift of personal honor,” Hall said. “When you give your word, mean it.”

The Job Corps Alaska Native dance group performed a couple of songs to kick off the ribbon-cutting portion of the celebration.

Jason Collins talked about the energy efficient new building, followed by Butch Ehmann of F-E Contracting who recalled working on the original $15-million project 20 years ago.

Ehmann said he ordered the materials for the project and knows every board and every screw in the place.

“This was a very big project,” he said, noting that it used 40, 40-foot truck loads of plywood.

Ehmann also shared an even earlier memory of the site. He said he remembers hauling gravel out of the pit to build a runway at the Palmer Airport when he worked for Hermon Brothers.

Smith capped the day with one final announcement. The center’s new building will be named in honor its first director, the Walt Hall Vocational Annex.

“After this, I swear I’m done crying for the day,” Hall said, wiping his eyes.