The Mat-Su School District made headlines last fall when they voted to severely limit the student representative position on the school board. Ben Kolendo, a senior at Mat-Su Career & Tech High School in Wasilla, held the seat at the time.

Then this summer, the school board voted to entirely remove the position, which dates back to 1979.

ATMI producer Edison Wallace Moyer sat down in the studio with Kolendo to talk about his experiences on the school board. He spoke about the responsibilities of being a student representative, the conflicts with the school board that led to his role being limited, and the larger story that followed.

Hosted by Ormund Alaois.

Produced and written by Taylor Heckart. Edited by Logan Ehrhart.

Music by Kendrick Whiteman and Devin Shreckengost.

Many thanks to supporters of our podcast, including the State of Alaska Division of Public Health.

The views expressed in this program do not necessarily represent the views of our sponsors.

Alaska Teen Media Institute is based in Anchorage, Alaska. We would like to acknowledge the Dena’ina people, whose land we work on.

If you’ve been downtown at all this summer, you might have noticed one less lane of traffic on a couple of busy streets. Anchorage now has a protected bike lane running along parts of A Street and 6th Avenue.

This bike lane won’t be there forever – just for the summer– but this protected bike lane is part of a larger two-year study funded by the bipartisan infrastructure bill. In this episode, we’re hearing from the project leads.

ATMI producer Taylor Heckart sat down in the studio with Brad Coy, the director of the Traffic Engineering Department at the Municipality of Anchorage, and Anna Bosin, the Regional Traffic Safety Engineer for the Department of Transportation for the State of Alaska.

They talked about the massive collaboration required to make this project happen, the benefits that protected bike lanes could bring to the community, and what it means to build infrastructure with non-motorized users in mind.

Hosted by Grace Fujimoto.

Produced and written by Taylor Heckart.

Music by Devin Shreckengost and Kendrick Whiteman.

Many thanks to supporters of our podcast, including the State of Alaska Division of Public Health.

The views expressed in this program do not necessarily represent the views of our sponsors.

Alaska Teen Media Institute is based in Anchorage, Alaska. We would like to acknowledge the Dena’ina people, whose land we work on.

The Palmer band 3000-21 describe themselves as a cartoon robot band from outer space. In 2022, they released a full-length album “Across The Metaverse.” Last year, they put out an EP of new music called “Interdimensional UFO.”

In March of this year, 3000-21 took human form and stopped by the ATMI studio to chat with producer Ormund Alaois. They talked about their songwriting process, the inspiration for their band’s identity, and their roots in the Alaska music scene.

Hosted by Grace Fujimoto.

Music by Kendrick Whiteman and Devin Shreckengost.

Click the links to see 3000-21 perform their songs "Love You Still" "Scatterbrained Man" and "Goodbye" at the ATMI studio.

Alaska Teen Media Institute is based in Anchorage, Alaska. We would like to acknowledge the Dena’ina people, whose land we work on.