This Cape May Tech Senior Is Spending Fall in Alaska

How's this for the coolest thing you could possibly do in your senior year of high school?

Julianna Romano, a senior at Cape May County Technical High School, is studying and living for a semester in Naukati Bay, Alaska, this fall.

While she is there, Julianna will explore the coastal ecosystems of Southeast Alaska and experience the region's culture and natural environment.

Romano applied for the Sea Otter Sound Coastal Academy after encouragement from her Coastal & Marine Science teacher.

Then she participated in an interview as part of the selection process, where she had the chance to talk about her personal knowledge and academic achievements.

She credited her teachers and friends at Cape Tech for giving her the push she needed to believe in herself and take the honors and advanced-placement level classes that got her where she is today.

“When I found out I got in [the program], I was in total disbelief because of how slim the chances were of me getting in,” said Romano.

“I called my mom, and I told her, ‘I made it!’ in tears. My whole family, friends, and teachers were so proud of me.”

 

Julianna is Spending the Semester in Alaska

The SOSCA program began this week and runs through Nov. 9 in Naukati Bay, Alaska, which is known as “The Gateway to Sea Otter Sound.”

Julianna was one of only fifteen high school students nationwide selected to participate in this program.

The experience will allow her to use the knowledge and skills she has developed through Cape Tech’s Coastal & Marine Science program and apply them in a completely different ecosystem.

From studying marine wildlife to exploring Alaska’s waters and learning about local industries, the experience will give her a firsthand look at how marine science connects to communities, careers, and the environment beyond Cape May County.

Romano is Living With a Host Family in a Small Alaskan Village

Julianna is living with a host family while experiencing life in the remote coastal community.

Naukati Bay is a small community of approximately 140 residents, sitting on the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska.

“Education at Cape Tech is so much more than what happens inside our walls or on our campus,” said Cape Tech Superintendent Jamie Moscony. “

When students have the chance to travel and to study in different places, they begin to see the world from a new perspective.

 

Those experiences challenge them, grow their passion for their field, build confidence and help them understand that there are possibilities far beyond what they may have imagined for themselves.”