If you'd grown up in a tiny, isolated Alaskan town, homeschooled your entire life, with the nearest phone more than 50 miles away, would you have trouble adjusting to university life?

Of course you would, which is the motivation behind the
University of Alaska Fairbanks' Rural Alaska Honors Institute.

The students spend six weeks at UAF--living in the dorms, eating in the cafeteria, taking college classes--experiencing college life firsthand. They leave the program with eight to 10 college credits, said Denise Wartes, the program's director.

The students are in class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They all take a college-level writing class and a study skills class in addition to one of several specialty classes such as math, geoscience, biochemistry, rural development or Native psychology. Every student also takes either a swimming class or a Native dance class.

After a lifetime spent in Alaska, do you think these students may be headed toward colleges in Florida?

(Photo Source: UAF)