Graduates at the Don Young Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer will walk across the stage next week. They will wear caps and gowns. Pomp and Circumstance will play. The graduation ceremony is next Friday, August 14, at the Job Corps Center on Lynn Martin Drive in Palmer.
Center Director Bobbie Irvin sees graduation as a time to celebrate more than completed classes. It’s a day to honor young people who are making the most of their lives.
Irvin said, “I think the only thing that really keeps young people from succeeding is opportunity. And we have this great opportunity. And when they take advantage of it, they’re better for it, and they know that.”
Irvin knows opportunity first hand. He jumped at the chance to run the Center two years ago. He packed up his car and made the move to Alaska along with his dog.
United States Representative Don Young worked to establish the first and only Job Corps Center in Alaska. It opened in Palmer in 1994. It was renamed for Don Young after his death in 2022.
The Center is open to students aged 16 to 24 who fall under the poverty guidelines. Most students come from villages in Western Alaska.
The program is free. Transportation, room, and board are covered. Graduates receive a cash bonus of $1,250 for graduating.
The Center offers eight trade certificates. They range from welding and culinary arts to the only water treatment program at a Job Corps across the country.
A number of young women want to get the water treatment certification according to Irvin.
Most students complete a program in about 320 days. Some need longer. And some simply don’t want to leave. Every Job Corps Center tracks an alert list of students nearing their final eligibility days.
Most Centers have two or three students on the alert list. Irvin has about 15.
This Center has a unique challenge. Many students come from a subsistence lifestyle. They feel the pull to help with fishing, hunting, and gathering back home.
The Department of Labor responded by creating subsistence leave. It’s a short break so students can go home and help out.
“We respect that. I have a student leaving this week,” Irvin said.
Food is another challenge. Some students struggle with the foods and spices eaten at the Center. Irvin reaches out to their villages and their communities. He is able to get foods like muktuk sent to the Center.
The federal closure of all Job Corps Centers in the country from February to October last year cut enrollment by about 50% at the Center in Palmer. It’s back up to 152 students now. This is below the typical 215 to 220 students.
The Center invited 41 students to attend graduation this year. Many are unable to attend. They are already in the military, working, or back in their villages. Irvin expects about 25 to show up.
Irvin remembers one young man who left the program with just four days to go. Irvin called him. He encouraged him to come back and finish.
Next thing Irvin knew, the young man was back. He wanted to do his four days and graduate. The young man walked across the stage. He gave Irvin a hug. He told Irvin that he wouldn’t have done it without him.
For Irvin, there are a lot of emotional things that happen. A lot. Sometimes he has to close his door and process it.
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Emily Forstner reported this Page Two article and yours truly, Lee Henrikson produced it. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Friday August 7, 2026.
Image credit: Mat-Su Sentinel