Yatibaey Evans, new program coordinator of the  Fairbanks North Star Borough School District’s Alaska Native Education program,  poses in her FNSB School District office Oct. 7.

Correction: Donna Galbreath’s name  was misspelled in early versions of this story.

FAIRBANKS — Yatibaey Evans, the new coordinator of the Alaska Native Education program, was  in her last semester of pre-med classes at the University of Washington when a  thesis project for her major, Comparative History of Ideas, prompted her to  change her career path from medicine to education.

An Ahtna Athabascan,  originally from Mentasta, Evans’ thesis plan was to look into stereotypes that  elementary students in grades 5 to 8 held of Native Americans.

“I was  interested in preconceptions,” she explained.

To obtain data, Evans  visited fifth through eighth grade classrooms in the Seattle area dressed in  Native regalia — a summer moosehide dress and beaded moccasins made by her  grandmother for her West Valley High School graduation.

She would talk  about her culture and Native Americans in the Lower 48, before asking students  to answer a list of questions.

While the students were filling out the  questionnaire, Evans would leave the classroom, change into street clothes,  return to the classroom and resume the conversation.

The students were  surprised to see Evans in everyday clothes and not Native regalia.

“They  thought I dressed like that everyday.

“We talked about that, and why they  were thinking Native Americans had to look like that, and why they were not  looking at Native Americans (without regalia) as a living, breathing, part of an  unique, amazing culture,” Evans said.

Evans research confirmed much of  what she thought non-Native children were assuming about Native Americans and  that most of their impressions came from textbooks, the media, etc. — that  Native Americans were part of the past, not part of present day  society.

“It was very thought provoking and showed me there was a lot of  work to be done,” Evans said.

“It made me realize that I really wanted to  be a voice for Native Americans. We are here and we are a big part of society,” Evans said.

“I wanted to help Native American youth to realize their  dreams and potential and carry on their vision wherever they are at,” Evans  said.

Instead of applying to medical school as previously planned, Evans  enrolled at John Hopkins University and earned a master of arts degree in  education.

Her classroom experience includes interning in a third grade  classroom and being hired as a kindergarten teacher in the same Maryland school  for the next school year.

In July, Evans was hired as coordinator of the  Fairbanks North Star Borough School District’s Alaska Native Education program,  after she, her African-American husband, Lewis Evans, and their three sons, Eli,  10, Robert, 8, and Michael, 3, returned to Alaska.

Lewis was in the Army  when the couple married in 2000, and they left the state shortly afterwards when  he was transferred to his next post. Evans was a stay-at-home mom raising three  sons, while continuing her education.

But Alaska was always on the  couple’s mind.

“It was always our dream to return home,” Evans  said.

When Lewis was honorably discharged in 2005, he began applying for  positions in the state. He now works with the Wounded Warriors program at Fort  Wainwright.

And Evans’ desire to work with Native youth also has been  fulfilled as coordinator of the Alaska Native Education program.

Funded  primarily by federal grants, the ANE program started in the school district in  1974, to meet the academic needs of Alaska Native and American Indian  students.

The program supports a coordinator, a secretary, a graduation  success coach/attendance liaison, a family advocate, and tutors in eight  elementary and four middle schools. The school district funds tutors at three  high schools and the Alaska Room, a cultural arts program for grades three  through six.

“Each part of the program has the same goals,” Evans said, “To have students  succeed and have the best outcome in their lives.

“We  want to support students and see that they don’t fall through the cracks and  they graduate from high school”

Evans is setting up a mentoring program  at Randy Smith Middle School, to support Native students. It’s similar to a  mentoring program Big Brothers Big Sisters operates in the school district where  students meet one-on-one with a mentor on a weekly basis.

Evans is a new  volunteer in the BBBS program. She also will be a volunteer mentor at Randy  Smith once the new ANE program gets underway, and she is recruiting volunteers  for both programs.

“It’s critical to develop self confidence in our  children and prepare them for challenges in high school and beyond,” Evans said. “It will help them to stand up to life and peer pressure.”

Another of  Evans’ aims is to introduce “Western ways of knowing, and Native ways of  knowing,” into the ANE program.

“Both are different streams of knowledge  and both are of equal value,” she said. “When we come together, we see the value  of each culture. We all have great attributes and should combine  them.”

After living out of state for more than a decade, Evans is  reconnecting with relatives and friends.

Her cousin, Suraiya John of  North Pole, is happy to be seeing Evans face-to-face again rather than on  Facebook.

The two women bonded as teens when both attended Culture Camp  in Nabesna, John said.

“We both have been taught our traditional values  by our grandparents and we are carrying them on,” she said.

Evans’ educational interests reflect her parents’ career paths.

Her mother,  Donna Galbreath, is the first Athabascan to earn a medical degree and is a  medical director at Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage.

Galbreath is  happy that her daughter followed her heart when changing her career paths, and  understands her reasons for doing so.

“She’s always been outgoing, never  afraid to speak up, and very people-oriented. She is very focused, but also very  dedicated to her family, her marriage and her children,” Galbreath said.

“I’m really proud of her for taking this job. She’ll bring a lot to the  table.”

Evans’ father, Jeff Mann, principal at Hunter Elementary  School, describes his daughter as “passionate and determined, who always does  things in a heartfelt way.”

He recalled his daughter receiving the “Hammer Award” for her “persistence and determination, when she was a freshman  member of the West Valley High School Swim Team,

“She’s always been  someone who has set a goal for herself and stuck to it and persevered to get to  it.”

Despite his teaching and administrative experience, Mann doesn’t  attempt to serve as his daughter’s education mentor.

“I try not to give  too much advice, and mostly listen,” he said.

The best part, he said is  having Evans and her family back in Fairbanks.

“To go out on a weekend  walk with her husband and boys is fantastic,” he said.