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Alumni Spotlight: Debbie Banaszak
By Emily Wescott
Whalesong Contributor
Debbie Banaszak
arrived in Juneau in 1984 with
$300 (half her Permanent Fund dividend check) in her pocket. She
had been living for four years in a Christian community called Game
Creek outside of Hoonah, with her extended family on the East Coast.
It was up to her to make her way in the world, she said.
“I had friends here in Juneau that were also from
(Game Creek) and gave me a place to stay and get started,”
Banaszak said. “I had always wanted to go to school and because
I was here, UAS was the logical place to go.”
Banaszak found a job and a place to live within a couple of weeks
and her university career began when she took a class that fall.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to go full-time,
as I had to support myself and I was unaware of all the help out
there for students like me at that time,” Banaszak said. “It
took 10 years of going to school part-time to complete my degree,
but I’m very glad that I was able to attend UAS, where most
of my classes were both interesting and informative and the instructors
were supportive.”
While attending UAS, Banaszak married and had two children,
worked full-time for the state of Alaska and the governor’s
office, and completed an internship with the Alaska State Legislature.
Since graduating in 1994 with a bachelor of liberal arts degree,
government emphasis, she has worked for the Close-Up program and
the Alaska State Legislature.
Banaszak is currently working part-time at the university for the
Alaska Universities Legislative Internship Program and raising her
three children, who range in age from 3 to 10. She has been on the
UAS Alumni Association Board of Directors for the past four years.
“As a way to give back to the university, I feel
lucky to be involved with the UAS Alumni Association and both the
university’s and Alumni’s continued growth,” Banaszak
said.
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