The Hunter, Volume 2022, September | Page 8

NANA

Students Participate in BWISE Fun in Kobuk and Noatak

NANA Works with Virginia Tech on Mining-Related Communications

NANA subsidiary Kuna Engineering ( Kuna ) actively participates in the Businesses Working in School Environments ( BWISE ) program . BWISE was created by NANA to encourage Northwest Arctic Borough K-12 students and NANA shareholder youth to pursue higher education for a career that interests them . BWISE is also an excellent way to help youth understand what NANA does and what types of careers and services they offer , hoping to one day recruit the next generation of NANA shareholders .
Kuna has participated in BWISE for the last three years and has held several in-person and remote presentations and activities for students in the NANA region . In April , NANA shareholders Rose Walker and Brett Kirk from Kuna
participated in a three-day BWISE trip to Kobuk and Noatak — communities Kuna has committed to performing annual BWISE outreach .
The team shared their presentations and activities with all students from kindergarten through 12th grade . Their presentations involved sharing information about Kuna and other NANA companies — the topics this trip were earthquake-related engineering and water treatment engineering .
Additional activities involved STEM projects involving balloon-powered race cars ; popsicle stick bridge building ; toothpick , marshmallow and Jell-O structures ; and a drinking water treatment simulation .

Recognizing the need to better communicate technical and scientific information to inregion communities , as a pilot initiative this year , the NANA natural resources department worked with Dr . Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq ’ s science writing course at Virginia Tech . The focus of the class was the science and engineering methods commonly used in resource development projects . Students , who ranged from undergraduate English majors to master ’ s and Ph . D . s in chemistry , were tasked with developing culturally appropriate scientific communication content for a non-scientific audience .

NANA Community and Stakeholder Outreach Director Andrew Willman presented to Itchuaqiyaq ’ s students on topics such as commonly used units of measurements for water treatment , water treatment methods , the use of gypsum in the treatment process and how permafrost can affect the natural environment .
“ This is a step in the right direction ,” said Willman . “ I hope to continue to work with Itchuaqiyaq and her students .”
After researching those same topics more thoroughly , students provided written content , visual content and an experiment that could be used to demonstrate how the technology worked in front of an audience . Students also created science lessons about these topics for area schools .
“ I learned so much about our people and how resource development affects our communities and land during this partnership ,” said Itchuaqiyaq . “ I look forward to learning more .”
Dr . Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq is the daughter of Gladys I ’ yiiqpak Pungowiyi ( Wells ) of Noorvik . She is an assistant professor of professional and technical writing at Virginia Tech whose research and teaching are focused on serving the needs of Iñupiat of the NANA region . Itchuaqiyaq is currently partnering with Aqqaluk Trust to create an online digital archive to preserve and present cultural and professional collections from the NANA region .
After rain passes through , rivers often get cloudy with dirt .
The cloudiness of water is called “ turbidity ,” and it ’ s measured in NTU . The cloudiest that a river gets after a major storm is around 500 NTU , while a clean river where you can clearly see the rocks at the bottom is around 1 or 2 NTU . Highly-filtered , crystal-clear drinking water is usually around 0.3 NTU .
NTU ( nephelometric turbidity units )

NANA Construction Wins More Rural Housing Contracts
Clear weather
Rainy weather
Stormy weather

NANA Construction won five rural housing contracts in 2022 to build 21 modular homes and three modular duplexes — for a total of 35 modules to be fabricated this year . These wins come after the successful builds of the Kiana and Shaktoolik homes last year .
1-20 NTU
20-100 NTU
100-500 NTU
The Kiana homes were completed and installed last year , while the Shaktoolik homes were staged in Nome for the winter , with installation and commissioning starting in July .
2022 Awarded Contracts :
• Afognak Native Corporation – six homes
• City of St . Michael – seven homes
• King Island Native Corporation – three duplexes
• Native Village of Savoonga – four homes
• Native Village of Brevig Mission – four homes
8 The Hunter | 2022 September