JASON RICHARDS

From An Alumnus

My wife, Karin, and I spent the last six years living in central Texas. I had the opportunity to work for SpaceX, and I loved my time there. Working at a rocket test facility opened my eyes to an amazing suite of technologies, an incredible group of people and experiences I will never forget. From watching rocket engine tests almost every day, watching two rocket launches in Florida and watching astronauts return to the space station from U.S. soil on rockets I helped test. These experiences could not temper our desire to be back home in Alaska.

Estimates of when people first arrived in Alaska range from 14,000 to 10,000 B.C.; Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Since well before statehood, we built communities and infrastructure across the Last Frontier. Since statehood, we built world-class oil fields and mines and continue to evolve our sustainable fisheries and manage our forests with best management practices. We have suffered and overcome serious setbacks. From the 1964 Good Friday earthquake to the Exxon Valdez running aground in 1989, to the recent COVID pandemic and Typhoon Merbok, one common thread through these successes and tragedies is the desire and resilience to move forward together.

Many of us live in a wildly different world than the one we grew up in. Long passed are the days before cell phones, social media and near-instantaneous communication. Alaska’s forests, mountains, lakes, oceans and wildlife remain unchanged, but our state’s social dynamics and culture have shifted greatly. We have retreated to digital communication when we could be having conversations, joining organizations or working and volunteering for causes we believe in. Grassroots movements and businesses have proven effective in myriads of ways over generations. The access to the way other people (individuals, businesses, towns, provinces, states, nations, etc.) are solving similar problems is at our fingertips.

Alaskans sit in a unique position moving forward. We are a resource-rich state and are a creative and resilient people, who have a reverence for this great land that can propel us into a prosperous future. As students and graduates of UAA, we recognize our desire to continue to grow our varied skill sets and interests to better prepare us for the opportunities that will arise in the future. We are in that future now, with challenges and opportunities all around us.