Success Stories:

JEREMY HANSON

Jeremy Hanson grew up in Tok and graduated from Tok School in 1998 and spent his first semester of college at Eastern New Mexico University on an academic scholarship.  After a serious knee injury during Christmas break he was not able to return. The next school year he went to College of the Redwoods Jr. College where he took General Studies courses and prepared for Pre-med classes.  He graduated with an AA in May of 2001.

From there he transferred to Humboldt State University where he majored in Cellular/Molecular Biology and minored in Chemistry.  During his years at Humboldt he was active as vice-president of the pre-med club.  He graduated in May of 2004 with a BS in Cellular/Molecular Biology.  At this time, Jeremy’s plans were to go to medical school and become a doctor.

Next Jeremy applied and was accepted to Child Family Health International and spent the summer of 2004 in Cape Town South Africa where he volunteered in a pre-med student program and worked in 4 local hospitals and with the local ambulance crew where he delivered a baby, patched up gunshot victims, assisted in surgeries and took care of patients.  Some memorable moments of that summer for Jeremy include climbing Table Mountain, riding an ostrich and wine tasting with the locals.  It was during this time that Jeremy had a life changing experience and decided not to pursue being a doctor.

In 2005, a friend got Jeremy a job as a lab assistant at the Eureka Public Health Laboratory doing support lab work and testing.  This is where Jeremy became interested in Public Health and chose that as his new career path.  After being laid off due to budget cuts, Jeremy spent one last summer in Tok working at Fast Eddy’s and regrouping. 

Next Jeremy applied to become a trainee as a Public Health Microbiologist, was accepted, and began the interview process.  In March of 2007 Jeremy began the 6-month training program with Santa Rosa Public Health Lab in Santa Rosa, California and in August he passed his board certification and received his license in Public Health Microbiology.  He was then hired as a full time Microbiologist in the Bioterrorism lab area where he worked in the virus section and did HIV, herpes, GC/CT, rabies and other testing.  During the 2009 H1H1 event he was involved in testing Flu specimens, and began training with agents like anthrax and versina pestis, which causes plague.  In the summer of 2009, he was once again laid off due to budget cuts.

In the Fall of 2009 Jeremy returned to Humboldt State to pursue his Master’s degree in Molecular Biology, where he took classes relating to stem cell biology, bioinformatics and electron microscopy and worked 2 summer research fellowships for Dr. Zhong’s molecular tick lab. He also worked part time at the Eureka Public Health lab as a Microbiologist during this time.  Jeremy wrote his thesis on Rickettsia, the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in humans and spent the summer of 2010 at shelters drawing blood from dogs for his project.  He developed a molecular assay to detect R. Rickettsia in dog blood and ticks and his research was chosen to be presented at the 2001 SPUPURB Biotechnology Symposium.

In January of 2011 Jeremy was hired as the Laboratory Manager of the Humboldt County Public Health Lab where he supervises 2 microbiologists and 5 lab assistants.  He also has the title of Bioterrorism Coordinator of Northern California.  This lab is a Bioterrorism lab that responds to powder events and clinical or environmental samples that could be acts of terrorism.   Jeremy also participated in the 1^st human rabies case in the last 10 years this past March and was interviewed for the local newspaper on September 11, 2011 regarding how Public Health has changed in a post-911 world.  He is currently developing a BT program for testing anthrax, ricin toxin and other deadly organisms, has developed 2 new molecular assays for Humboldt County relating to Pertussis, Influenza and Norovirus, and is developing an assay for detection of Shellfish poisoning.

Jeremy will be receiving his master’s degree in May of 2012 and will also be attending the 2012 CSUPURB Biotech symposium as a presenter.  He is currently working on getting his research published in a peer-reviewed journal.  Jeremy’s future plans are to get his Doctorate of Public Health at UC Berkeley or UCLA beginning in the fall of 2012 andhe will be joining the Lab Aspire program to become a laboratory director in the State of California.

Last, but not least, Jeremy owns a pug named Ally who he says has “gotten him through it all.” 

Congratulations on your success, Jeremy!

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HOME GROWN STAFF IN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT:
These individuals graduated from schools within the Alaska Gateway School District and returned to play a valuable role in the education of our youth. We are proud to feature them as our current success stories.

Lori Weisz (Tok School, 1989)

Tok School 4th Grade Teacher

Past positions in education:

Tok Head Start, 1 year; K-4 Mentasta 1996-2001; K-2 Northway 2001-2002, Kindergarten, Tok School, 2002-2003; 1st Grade, Tok School 2003-2010; 4th grade, Tok School, 2010-2011

How long in education field:

16 Years

Highest level of education attained:

Bachelor's of Education

Where graduated:

University of Alaska Fairbanks
                 
About me:
I grew up in Tok, attending school here from 6th through 12th grades (with my dad as my principal!).  After completing college in Fairbanks I came back to Tok and began my teaching career in the district.  I commuted for about 6 years to other sites, but am now set in Tok where I only have to drive 1 mile to school rather than 50!  I enjoy working in all the subject areas, but math is my favorite to teach.  I also like to incorporate art and projects into my lessons.  Outside of school, I have fun riding my bike and decorating my house with all kinds of color.  My biggest, busiest, and most exciting hobby, however, is my four kids-three teenagers and a third grader.  Most of the school year is filled with sporting and school events such as basketball, volleyball, hockey, and GAP while summer time is busy with jobs, family and outdoor excitement.

Mike Cronk (Northway School, 1987)

Middle School Teacher at Tok School

Past positions in education:
Elementary, middle school, high school teacher in Northway for 14 years

How long in education field:
This is my 20th year of teaching.

Highest level of education attained:
BA in education

Where graduated:
University of Alaska-Fairbanks

About me:
My family moved to Northway in 1978.  I attended Walter Northway HS and graduated in 1987.  I attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks on a basketball scholarship.  I began working for AGSD in the fall of 1992 as a kindergarten teacher at Northway School. In 2006 I transferred to Tok to teach middle school.