Cultural Engagement
Culture is Medicine
Calista Education’s Culture’s Cultural Engagement initiatives help keep regional language and traditions alive for future generations. Guided by Yuuyaraq—our way of being—we create spaces to learn, heal, and grow together through language, story, and community.
Cultural Engagement at CEC
The living practice
of Yuuyaraq
CEC’s Cultural Engagement initiatives center the knowledge, values, and teachings carried by our Elders and culture bearers. Through hands-on learning, intergenerational gatherings, and school and community partnerships, we support the living practice of Yuuyaraq across the Calista Region.
Our Cultural Engagement initiatives include:
Living Yuuyaraq – community-based cultural gatherings and learning
Ciutmuarluni (“Striving Forward”) – youth leadership and postsecondary readiness grounded in culture
Learning Maps for Math in a Cultural Context – Yup’ik-informed math resources aligned with Alaska standards
Culture Is Medicine
Living Yuuyaraq “Our Way of Being”
Living Yuuyaraq is one of CEC’s Cultural Engagement initiatives grounded in the understanding that culture is medicine. Through community-based gatherings led by Elders and culture bearers, families, youth, and adults come together to practice regional cultural traditions. These learning spaces may include hands-on learning, storytelling, song, and everyday examples of how Yuuyaraq guides our relationships with each other, the land, and our communities.
Living Yuuyaraq meets people where they are—creating opportunities to reconnect with identity, language, land, and one another in ways that feel welcoming, healing, and relevant to daily life.
Follow our socials for upcoming event announcements!
Ciutmuarluni (“Striving Forward”)
Developing Resilient, Future-Ready Youth
Ciutmuarluni is a Calista Education & Culture initiative for Alaska Native high school students in the Calista Region. The program helps 11th–12th graders prepare for life after graduation by grounding them in in our traditional ways, while connecting them with modern education and career pathways.
Through Elder-led cultural teachings and week-long immersion experiences, students strengthen their Yup’ik identity and wellness while exploring college, training, and career options—including campus visits, scholarship and financial aid support, and time with Native-owned businesses and regional employers.
Ciutmuarluni also supports K–12 career readiness for Yup’ik students by developing classroom lessons and family/teacher guides that keep schools and homes working together to help youth “strive forward.”
Registration for the next Ciutmuarluni cohort opens in January 2026.
Learning Maps for Math
Math that Connects Classroom Learning to Student Culture
Learning Maps for Math is an initiative that strengthens the existing Math in a Cultural Context curriculum for grades 5–8. The project adds visual “learning maps” that show how Alaska mathematics standards and mathematical practices are woven throughout six MCC modules, helping teachers and students see where they are in their learning and where they are headed.
LM–MCC will also develop curriculum-based formative assessments and print resources so teachers can check student understanding and adjust instruction in real time. Through conference sessions and an annual webinar series, teachers receive professional development in culturally relevant, place-based math teaching that connects classroom learning to students’ daily lives and local communities.
Details about teacher workshops, resources, and registration will be available in January 2026.
QUYANAQuyanarluki Ikaayurtet
”Thank you to the helpers”
The CEC Cultural Engagement initiatives are only made possible with our many partners and funders.
Our Partners
Kuspuk School District – Ciutmuarluni
Yupiit School District – Ciutmuarluni
Lower Kuskokwim School District – Ciutmuarluni, LM-MCC
Lower Yukon School District – Ciutmuarluni, LM-MCC
Alaska Native Cultural Charter School – LM-MCC
Hooper Bay Charter School – LM-MCC
Alaska Council of School Administrators – LM-MCC, Content and Management
Alaska Staff Development Network – LM-MCC, Content and Management
University of Kansas (KU) - Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems
(ATLAS) and the Life Span Institute at KU – LM-MCC, Content and Management
Our Funders
U.S. Department of Education (ED), FY25 Native Youth Community Program (NYCP)
Grantee Competition under the Office of Indian Education (OIE)