Working at the Heritage Center so far has been a great experience. I get to help out with the social media work, I get to personally meet with other interns interviewing them and speak one on one with them and learn who they are and where they come from. I grew up in the village for about seven years or so and got the chance to practice a subsistence lifestyle. My mother and father would take my sisters and I out on the boat and would go dip netting for all kinds of salmon, and later on that day we would dry and smoke the fish. I loved being able to go hunting with my family and being able to catch our dinner or being able to pick wild berries and greens. Living out in the rural villages of Alaska you know you are eating healthy and you are able to harvest it yourself. To me, ANHC means a place to learn about each Alaskan native culture, a place to flourish and gain back traditional ways of life.
ANHC Summer Intern Catrina Cortez (Yup’ik) is 20 years old. She graduated from Burchell High School and plans on furthering her education to become a behavioral health specialist. In her first summer as an ANHC intern, she has learned historic traditions in Yup’ik culture in addition to the knowledge she has learned from her family including berry picking, camping, hunting, and traditional values.
