Doyon Foundation and Doyon, Limited as well as family, friends and other supporters gathered to celebrate the class of 2017 at our annual graduate reception on May 5 in Fairbanks.
The event honored the 69 Doyon Foundation students who graduated or are graduating this year. Included in the total were 26 high school students, 38 certificate, associate’s or bachelor’s degree students, five master’s degree students, and two Ph.D. candidates.
The event commenced with an opening prayer led by Allan Hayton, our language revitalization program director. Executive Director Doris Miller gave the welcome before turning the stage over to Kathleen Meckel Hildebrand, who gave the alumna keynote address. Kathleen holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Holy Names College, as well as a master’s degree in education from Western Oregon University.
Guests then heard from 2017 graduate speaker, Esther Frykman, who recently graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with an associate’s degree in nursing. Excerpts from Kathleen and Esther’s speeches are available on the Foundation’s YouTube channel.
Before the event concluded, all graduates in attendance had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the audience.
In total, approximately 40 people attended the event to celebrate the 2017 graduates. Be sure to check out the fun event photos on our Facebook page.
We will soon distribute our popular graduate yearbook featuring photos and short bios on each of our 2017 graduates. If you are interested in receiving the electronic yearbook, please sign up to receive our e-newsletter or subscribe to our blog.
For more information on Doyon Foundation and the ways we work to support students, please visit www.doyonfoundation.com, call 907.459.2048 or email foundation@doyon.com.