SOLDOTNA, AK (September 9, 2015) — A record enrollment of 75 students at Alaska Christian College (ACC) has filled dorms to capacity, said president Keith Hamilton.
Hamilton said the addition of associate of arts degrees in Christian ministry and paraprofessional education two years ago has helped to power the growth.
“It is also the strong reputation ACC has built statewide over our 14 years of serving Alaska Natives. One family member comes and then we find cousins and siblings following right behind them. It is exciting to see all the siblings from one family come to be educated and discipled at Alaska Christian College.”
The school meets a critical need, Hamilton said. “Nowhere else in Alaska is there offered anything like what ACC offers to Alaska young people. We are the transition bridge from rural and bush Alaska to the four-year university system or back to the village with the education needed for success.”
The holistic services, which include academic, emotional, and spiritual counseling provided to students, also have been critical. “The academic abilities of students from rural Alaska are among the lowest in the U.S.,” Hamilton said. “We are a village of many villages at ACC, and we support Native cultural opportunities. For two years, our ACC students are a part of our family and we do everything we can to offer hope and success to our students.”
This year the school had to turn some students away because the dormitories were full. The school currently has 69 beds, and the Board of Trustees has approved an upcoming campaign to complete the third and final phase of its building program with a 38-bed dormitory to be opened in 2017.
“This will take hundreds of volunteers, both professional and lay, to help us build our capacity to 100 students,” Hamilton said. “It will take the Covenant family’s help to see this become a reality both in generous fund-giving and work on campus this summer.”
“As we begin our fourteenth year, it is clear that the Lord has positioned us for greater impact as we continue our mission of empowering Alaska Natives,” Hamilton added. “ACC has been and will continue to be a place of miracles as we see life-changing education almost daily among our students.”
