Hans Chester didn't know what he wanted to study when he began at the University of Alaska eight years ago. But in finding his way academically, the 24-year-old from Juneau has found his identity as a Tlingit.
Chester, who expects to complete his courses next winter for a bachelor's degree with an emphasis in anthropology, was named Outstanding Student of the Year at the University of Alaska Southeast this year.
He has studied the Tlingit language for about six years at the university, where he is also a teaching assistant to language teacher and elder Florence Sheakley.
"I'm 6 years old," Chester said with a laugh as he described his ability to speak Tlingit, a hard language to learn. But he hopes to be part of a new generation of Natives who carry on their traditional language although they didn't grow up speaking it.
"He's probably the most fluent of speakers of Tlingit under 40, and he's only 24," said Roy Iutzi-Mitchell, a sociolinguist at Sealaska Heritage Institute. Chester also teaches at a Sealaska summer Tlingit and Haida language program at the UAS campus.
As Chester mixed work and studies, his undergraduate years have stretched out. But he plans to go on for a master's degree in teaching and work in an elementary school Tlingit-language immersion program, and someday earn a Ph.D. and teach in a college.
"I grew up pretty much not knowing the language, so that was one thing I wanted to instill in others - that knowledge," Chester said.
"When you're younger and you don't know about your identity, there's an emptiness, a void in your life. Beginning to learn about Tlingit language and culture began to fill that feeling that something was missing."
As a teaching assistant to Sheakley, Chester learned not only Tlingit, but how to open up to students and teach, he said.
"I learned how to put my guard down," Chester said. "She taught me how to interact more with people. A lot of it is by using hand gestures and body language.
"She always said when people talk in Tlingit they use their arms and hands to gesture, to put emphasis on a certain action. It helped me to be on the same level with people, make conversation with them."
Chester helps develop lesson plans, and during class he sometimes writes words on the blackboard as Sheakley speaks them.
"Anything that's written now is what people are going to learn from in the future. So that's an important part of the classes," he said.
Chester said he uses anthropology as an avenue to study Tlingit culture. The Tlingit language provides a balance between the world views of Western academics and Sheakley's knowledge as an elder, he said.
"I kind of see her as a grandma I never had around as a kid," he said. "I'm learning from her now."
Patricia Adkisson, outgoing director of the Native Rural Student Center at UAS, said Chester is a true speaker in the Tlingit style, using "the earnest and elegant language of revered orators."
"When I hear him speak, I hear the language of a Tlingit elder," she said. "He's very moving. He knows the Tlingit style of speaking in a way that's very touching."
UAS anthropology professor Daniel Monteith said Chester is very worthy of being the Outstanding Student of the Year, which is awarded by the student government from nominations by faculty, staff and students.
"Hans Chester is a warm, friendly, personable student who shows a real passion for his Tlingit culture, people and history," Monteith said.
"What's really exciting about him," said Iutzi-Mitchell, the Sealaska sociolinguist, "is he's clearly self-motivated about learning the language, and he wants it not for himself but to pass it on to others."
Chester said there's a lack of self-esteem and motivation among younger Natives.
"Natives have to give themselves something better, instead of waiting for a raven to fly by and drop it, and that starts with the individual," he said. "My direction in life lets other people know you make what you want."
Eric Fry can be reached at efry@juneauempire.com.
