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U.S. District Court honored for partnership with Anchorage-area career academies
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Summary
Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon said the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska received this year’s Board of Directors Award for engaging with the Anchorage School District’s Career Academies, which bring courthouse visits and guest speakers into classroom pathway programs to expose students to careers in law and related fields.
The United States District Court for the District of Alaska received this year’s Board of Directors Award after court officials described a multi-year partnership with Anchorage-area high school career academies that brings courthouse visits and courtroom speakers to students, officials said.
Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon, who spoke during the presentation, said the court partnered with the Anchorage School District and Career Academies to “further civic education” and to build ties between the court and the community. “What motivates our team is a sincere belief in the importance of what we do,” Reardon said. “We need good lawyers, we need good probation officers, we need good marshals here in Alaska.”
Leah Kellerby, an academy coach at Bartlett High School, described the role of academy coaches as community connectors who set up courthouse tours and bring court personnel into classrooms. “I like to think my job is a connector,” Kellerby said. She said the most visible impact is when students discover a new career interest: “to go there thinking, I have no real interest in this, and to leave saying, I think this is what I want to do.”
Maureen Segura Cronin, who identified herself as Doctor and said she is at Betty Davis East Anchorage High School, explained that courthouse interactions are woven into pathway courses such as criminology, forensic science and psychology. Those classroom connections are intended to give students greater awareness of career options and allow them to ask candid questions during site visits, she said.
Speakers described the program as a workforce pipeline and civic-education effort rather than a recruitment drive. Reardon framed the partnership as one way to expose students to public-service careers and to “energize and develop the next generation of people who will serve the state.”
The presentation did not include details on the Board of Directors Award timeline, any accompanying funding, or specific program metrics, which were not specified in the remarks. The remarks concluded with academy staff reaffirming the value of the court visits and in-class engagements for students.
