Alaska is the largest, least densely populated state in the USA, the size of California, Texas and Montana combined, which makes it HUGE compared to the rest of the US. These two facts alone make life in Alaska very different from anywhere else in the U.S.

Life in an Alaska native village is even more a world apart from the lower 48, or for that matter from any foreign country location. VISIONS has been visiting Alaska Athabasca villages for 15 summers. Slowly, our youth volunteers and their leaders have worked their way northeast from Anchorage, west of the Wrangells, and up to southeast of Fairbanks. Along the way we have been welcomed by and learned from the people in Gulkana, Gakona, Copper Center, Mentasta, Tazlina, Chitina, Tanacross, and Tetlin villages. We will return to Tetlin this summer.

Dear Visions Program Directors & Staff,

I have been meaning to write you to tell you what an impact your programs has had on my children. My son David, did the Peru program in 2003 and the Alaska program in 2004, both of which he enjoyed tremendously and benefited him greatly.

My daughter Anna, did the Montana (Blackfeet reservation) trip in 2007 and the Vietnam trip in 2008. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about both programs; she said they were amazing experiences, and she made many wonderful friends that she still keeps in touch with. She said to me the other day that she misses Vietnam. I know she would like to return there.

Ambitious community service. Challenging outdoor recreation and exploration. A sense of community as "family-like". These are central elements of VISIONS' youth summer programs for high school students and middle school students. This essay from our archives struck us by the way this past partcipant brings these elements to life in recounting his VISIONS trip to Alaska.

By Zack Weinstock (Alaska 2007)

     My 2007 summer with Visions in Alaska was amazing. That is really the best word to describe it. It was exactly what I was looking for in that it had a good amount of building and some fun side trips as well.

     ...we built upon the previous summer’s work, which was the cement foundation. We built the floor, the walls, and put up the trusses for the roof.  It doesn’t sound like a huge amount to have accomplished, but it was much harder than it sounds. The lumber we used to build the floor we milled ourselves from pine trees that we de-barked and sawed down ourselves. Even this was dependent on a couple days' work of disassembling and reassembling a portable chainsaw mill, which is harder to put together than it looks. Once the floor was set up, we made the trusses...and nailed them together using plywood.