UAA College of Business and Public Policy

Arwen Campbell

Arwen Campbell is a senior attending Alaska Middle College, with her affiliate school being Eagle River High School. Although she has lived in Alaska for more than half her life, she has resided in a total of nine places. Between working at Jalapeños Mexican Restaurant and school she has little free time, but what little she has she spends on reading and hanging out with friends. She hopes to major in Environmental Sciences as well as minor in Business at Montana State University.

Julius RK Hackney

Julius RK Hackney was born in Anchorage, Alaska and lives with his family and three pets. He attends UAA as well as King Tech as a high school senior. Also, he is a member of the Tom Case Leadership Fellows Academy in which he learns to expand his leadership skills in a real world setting. He takes part in this program because he knows these important skills are necessary for his successful future as a leader. He is interested in working in the medical field perhaps mixed with business: something like an M.D. or healthcare consulting. His hobbies consist of reading, being active, living bold, entrepreneurial ventures, and theater. He acted for over two years in every production put on at the West High Auditorium. He once was the champion of Chess Club too.

Brooklyn Johnson

Brooklyn is currently a high school senior at the Alaska Middle College. She has lived in Alaska for eleven years and considers herself a true Alaskan. She is the oldest of three children and loves all things outdoors including hiking, fishing, and adventuring. In her free time Brooklyn enjoys reading and spending time with friends and her dog. She loves to be creative and has taken more than a few art classes.

Octavia Knox

Octavia Knox is a Senior attending Alaska Middle College. Born and raised in Alaska, she spends most of her time indoors during winter, and enjoys the warm summers that the last frontier offers. Her affiliate school is Chugiak High School. She spends most of her free time playing basketball and violin, as well as reading, and cooking. Octavia has had a wide variety of jobs including experience as a worker at Subway, The Alaska Club, and an ambassador at Prospect Athletics. These have provided her with life experience she plans to translate into her future endeavors.

Octavia has an interest in business management and marketing, which she hopes to study in a college somewhere warm. While she does not know what her future career path is, she knows she wants to find a way to incorporate her creativity into her work. Octavia looks forward to playing basketball at the college level in conjunction with the furthering of her education.

Zoe Mcdonald

Zoe Mcdonald attends Alaska Middle College. She participated in the National Honor Society as a high schooler. She enjoys playing softball, being an active person in her community. She also enjoys being creative with art, and doing things such as pottery. Zoe wants to go to school to be a medical engineer. She has lived in Alaska her entire life but has had many opportunities to travel. The reason Zoe wanted to join the Tom Case Leadership Program is because she wanted to learn more about how to be a better role model in society. She also wanted something to look good on her record, and the honorary cord was a plus.

Lea Mennen

Lea Mennen is a senior at Alaska Middle College. She decided to join the Tom Case Fellowship Academy because she knows whatever she decides to pursue, she will need leadership as a skill. She is originally from Germany and has lived in the U.S for eight years now. She has been in Alaska for one of those years. She visits her family in Germany every summer and winter break so luckily, she is still fluent in German. Lea loves to dance and run long distances. She has been dancing for many years; her favorite styles include Modern and hip-hop although she has tried all styles. Lea has always been interested in the medical field and wants to pursue something in that field in the future. Lea wants to pursue dance medicine because she can combine two things that she loves. Lea also loves to travel because she has lived in many different places. She wants to do an exchange year in France during college because she has always had a fascination with the french language. Lea will go back down to the lower 48 next year for college because although she thinks Alaska is beautiful, she’d rather live somewhere warm.

Robert Morgan

Robert is a senior at Alaska Middle College. He has lived in Alaska his entire life and enjoys spending time outdoors. He is especially passionate about music, math, education, sports, and spending time with his cat Phil. He enjoys problem-solving and wants to make positive changes in his community. Specifically, Robert is interested in using math as a tool to make the world a better place. He is planning on pursuing Actuarial Science and would like to open up his own Actuarial firm.

Robert enrolled in the Tom Case Leadership Academy Fellows program because he is interested in developing his leadership and advocacy skills. In addition, he would like to create new connections with business leaders and students with similar ambitions in his community.

Evelyn Robbins

Evelyn Robbins is in her senior year at Alaska Middle College. She’s lived in Alaska all her life, participating in her Alaskan Native heritage through subsistence fishing and hunting.

Evelyn participates in charity work with Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) programs and is a Textbook Affordability Student Ambassador at the University of Anchorage Alaska.

Evelyn recently received her private pilot's license at Embry Riddle University through a JROTC scholarship and plans on pursuing a career in aviation as well as continuing her business administration degree.

Mariam Sharife

Mariam Sharife is a junior currently attending Alaska Middle College at the University of Anchorage Alaska. She is from North Sudan and was born in Syria, but she has lived in Anchorage, Alaska for most of her life. Mariam enjoys being outdoors, reading, and listening to good music. She loves being busy and is constantly looking for new things to do, whether that is taking up another job or volunteering at the local mosque. Mariam has a big family and wants to be a role model for her younger siblings by showing them the importance of education. She is always looking to learn and takes advantage of every opportunity she is given. She joined the Tom Case Leadership Fellows academy to learn what it means to be a good leader and how to improve her own leadership skills. Mariam wants to live in the lower 48 and aspires to attend a university there to earn her bachelor's degree in software engineering.

Luna Shiok

Luna Shiok was born in Maine and raised in Alaska, and she loves to travel with her family. She is a junior in the Alaska Middle College, taking courses at UAA and King Tech High. She is a member of both the Alaska Health Education Center (AHEC) Rising Scholars and the Tom Case Leadership Fellows Academy. Through these programs she hopes to improve and develop strong communication, leadership, and intrapersonal relationship skills. In addition, Luna wants to get a Ph. D. in something involving biomedical engineering, pharmaceutical science, and/or oncology. She is hoping to find a career that allows her to take care of people through creating medicine that can cure harmful diseases (that are also somewhat common) such as cancer. When she isn’t focused on school, her hobbies include playing softball, volleyball, and cross-country skiing at her affiliate school, East High. She also loves art, dogs, and her friends.

Nina Spight

Nina is a senior at Alaska Middle College School whose affiliate is A.J Dimond High School. From first glance Nina looks like an only child, but she is the very youngest of her four siblings. Nina grew up playing piano and singing in choir, appreciating the arts and music. Later in her academic career, she would join debate, where she found satisfaction in engaging in argument analysis. Nina maintains the honor roll in high school, and plans to leave Alaska to further her education down in The Lower 48. Nina joined the Tom Case leadership program to further develop her leadership skills that are needed for any and all fields of interest. Nina enjoys spending time with her friends, earning money, and taking naps. Nina’s future aspirations are to become a Nurse Anesthetist, and live in a penthouse in a big city.

Loretta Ueselani

Loretta Ueselani, originally from American Samoa, immigrated to Alaska at the age of two and has been residing in Anchorage ever since for the past fifteen years. She is a senior at Alaska Middle College and West Anchorage High School who is committed to her education, culture, and community. Inside school, she is a member of the National Honor Society at West Anchorage High School and a member of the Trio Upward Bound Program that assists low-income students with college. Loretta is also an active community member and volunteers most of her time at the Food Bank of Alaska. She enjoys singing on the chorus at her church and traditional dancing as she is a part of a Samoan dance group, “Sei Oriana Alaska,” and advocating for her people. She joined the TCLFA in hopes of pursuing a degree in business management, with plans to return to her home country to begin her own business.

Julia Wagner

Julia was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She attended Dimond High before joining the Alaska Middle College Program. She is the proud recipient of two academic letters. She joined the Tom Case Leadership Fellowship Academy in her senior year.

Although her education is important, she has many hobbies. These include reading, swimming, walking, and dancing, which is her favorite. She began dancing when she was two years old and is still practicing today at her local dance studio.

In the future, Julia intends to graduate from college and attend law school. She aspires to be an attorney in family law working in a field that works directly with children. Somewhere down the line she hopes to be a part of the Alaska Air National Guard. She hopes to balance out her academic career goals while fulfilling her desire to serve her country. While prideful for the red, white, and blue, she would love to be like her aunt, who was active duty for 20 plus years in the Alaska Air National Guard and is now a retired veteran. Julia’s passion to join the military is mainly inspired by these two reasons.