Dave Atcheson, well-known local fishing expert and author of “Fishing Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula: A Complete Angler’s Guide,” will be offering his beginning fly fishing courses at the Kenai River Campus this spring. The late-starting classes begin on March 22, meeting from 7:15-9:15 p.m. in Ward building room 104 (through May 2).

The one-credit course introduces the basics of fly fishing, including selection of equipment, types of line, flies, and techniques geared toward local lakes and streams.

For more information, call 262-0330 (central Peninsula) or email Atcheson at daatcheson@kpc.alaska.edu.

McDonalds offering tuition assistance for employees

Unlike many fast food restaurants, McDonalds embraces the philosophy that education is the true game-changer. The “Archways to Opportunity” benefit offers a comprehensive education program designed to offer assistance to employees on their specific educational goals.

Assistance provides reimbursement for eligible courses that relate to employees’ current or future job functions, or lead to degrees related to business. Managers and crew are eligible for the program at both company-owned and franchised restaurants.

In addition to college courses, there is also an online academic program that offers employees the opportunity to earn their high school diploma and all costs are covered by the tuition assistance program.

According to the Archways to Opportunity website, full-time managers and staff working at least 30 hours per week are eligible for $1,050 in tuition assistance per year.

Part-time managers, crew and office staff qualifies for $700 annually. They must, however, be employed by the same franchise owner at least 9 consecutive months and work an average of 20 hours weekly.

Local franchise owners, Dena and Scott Cunningham, hope potential college-age employees understand how much they value being able to offer tools to help employees grow and succeed professionally and personally.

“We offer flexible scheduling for employees who wish to pursue this opportunity. We let our employees know that they can request time off during finals or when they’re trying to meet a project deadline,” Cunningham said.

For more information on how to access the tuition assistance program, visit this website: archwaystoopportunity.com/index.html

Dena’ina language videos available

The Kenai River Campus is offering three course sections this semester in two different Alaska Native languages, Dena’ina and Ahtna.

KRC’s Rural and Alaska Native Student Services coordinator and adjunct instructor, Sandra Shaginoff-Stuart, has partnered with adjunct instructors, Helen Dick and Andrea Ivanoff, to teach Elementary Dena’ina II. To enrich the curriculum and expand the reach of their language revitalization efforts, they created a series of instructional videos as part of a strategy to pair language instruction with common activities like beading and cooking.

“We wanted to create videos on YouTube for students and our communities to access easily, and hopefully spark more ideas of usage of the Dena’ina Language,” said Shaginoff-Stuart. “Helen wanted me to mention that learning a new language is hard, but our students have continued with a strong commitment of learning, that we are so pleased that they have made such progress in a short amount of time.”

To view the language videos, visit this link: bit.ly/1OQ9YwC.