Alaska Teen Media Institute

Earlier this year Jose Carter was working for a company that did catering in an oil field in Pecos, Texas. He’d been there for almost a year and a half when he was laid off due to the pandemic. Jose then returned to Alaska where his family lives to try and find a new job. Among Jose’s family is his daughter, ATMI senior producer Daisy Carter. Daisy sat down with her dad to talk about the difficult...

Back in June, Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, she said that we were in the second inning of the pandemic. With winter and flu season just around the corner, ATMI producer Danielle DuClos checked in with Dr. Zink to talk about what inning we’re in now, pandemic fatigue, wide spread testing, and a possible vaccine. They spoke over Zoom on October 9th, 2020. Hosted by Quinn White. Musi...

The last time the ATMI studio was open was March 17th, right in the middle of Spring Break. That's over six months that we've been in this pandemic. To commemorate this strange milestone, some of the ATMI producers got together for a Roundzoom discussion to talk about how life has changed since the early days of the pandemic, positive and negative things that have resulted from this time, and heal...

The Bear Tooth Theatrepub hasn't screened a movie since mid-March when city mandates forced it to close to the public. In September, major movie theater chains were able to re-open in Anchorage, but Bear Tooth kept their theatre closed. In this episode, ATMI producer Devin Shreckengost speaks with Stephanie Johnson, the general manager of Bear Tooth. She talks about what the movie-going experience...

Welcome to our newest podcast series "ATMI After Hours" where our youth producers take you behind the scenes of the various projects we've been working on. For our first episode, ATMI senior producers Daisy Carter and Devin Shreckengost share stories of how they first got involved with ATMI, their early filmmaking adventures, ongoing projects, and much more!

Anna Stallworth and Denali Romero both attended high school at Grace Christian School. They are among a growing number of alumni who are voicing experiences of racial discrimination and abuse during their time there. On July 18, 2020 Anna and Denali hosted a peaceful protest at Grace to “make visible the hidden racism, sexual assault, misogyny, and other discriminations at” the school. Shortly the...

After spending the summer back up here in Alaska, ATMI producer Danielle DuClos returned to the University of Missouri where she is a junior, studying investigative journalism and pre-law political science. A few days after arriving in Columbia, Danielle started feeling sick. She got tested, and sure enough, she had contracted Covid-19. Luckily, though, she has since recovered from it. Fellow ATMI...

Colten Hester is only nineteen years old, but currently holds down two very different jobs. He works at Starbucks, but he is also a Patient Care Tech in the Renal Care Unit of Providence Medical Center. ATMI senior producer Daisy Carter, who is close friends with Colten, met up with him to talk about being an essential worker at two very different jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They spoke on S...

Cesar Gutierrez has been working in the restaurant industry for eighteen years. In February, he opened the taqueria El Pastor in Eagle River. And then the pandemic hit. Since then he’s struggled with adjusting to Covid health regulations, city closure ordinances, ensuring that his staff and customers are safe, and keeping his new business afloat. But he said he has found a lot of community support...

Back in April for one of our first episodes, ATMI senior producer Quinn White shared her story about being in college in New York City when coronavirus cases were first starting to rise. She made her way back to Alaska safely and has spent the summer here. Now that cases are down in New York and the fall semester is here, Quinn is returning to college. Except she’s not going back to Mount St. Vinc...

Earlier this summer, a group of alumni from Anchorage Christian Schools connected through social media over shared experiences that they had during their time there. With the help of an open letter from former Miss Alaska, Ariane Audett, over one hundred and twenty Black, Indigenous, People of Color have shared their stories: decades of racial discrimination and abuse they were victim to while att...

ATMI senior producer Daisy Carter, who is now a sophomore at UAA, attended the film, audio, and video production class at King Technical High school a few years ago. It’s where she learned a lot of the skills that she’s brought to her work here at ATMI. But this year, that course is much different than when she was there. Due to the coronavirus hitting this spring, classes had to switch to an onli...

Earlier this summer alumni from Anchorage Christian Schools came together to speak out and share stories of racism they experienced while attending school there. Only their experiences weren’t just with other students but the teachers and administration as well. Emboldened by an open letter from former Miss Alaska Ariane Audett... over 120 Black, Indigenous, People of Color have shared decades of...

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Michael Martinez is Yup'ik and Otomi, and is currently pursuing a degree in Biological Sciences at UAA. On campus, Michael works at the Advanced Instrumentation for Microbiome Studies facility, manufacturing Covid-19 tests for the state of Alaska. ATMI producer Ryan Danigole spoke with Michael to talk about the work he's doing, precautions he takes at work and...

Mask Mission AK is a group of West Anchorage High School students who are organizing Alaskans in the making of homemade masks which they donate to areas of our community in need during the coronavirus pandemic. So far, they have provided over 1,400 masks to various sites such as ANMC, Alaska Regional Hospital, Bean’s Cafe, Anchorage Health Dept, USO JBER, Anchorage Fire Department, and more! ATMI...

The fall semester is right around the corner, and with the coronavirus still spreading throughout the world, people are wondering if schools are going to reopen, and if so, how are they going to do it safely. So ATMI senior producer Quinn White called up Joe Zawodny, a director for the Anchorage School District, to talk about their plans for reopening schools and keeping students and teachers safe...

ATMI senior producer Daisy Carter's cousins from California visited Alaska this summer! While out camping in the woods, Daisy sat down with her cousin to talk about the differences of how the virus is affecting their states, precautions the family has taken to ensure a safe vacation, and what they're looking forward to most about being back in Alaska. Hosted by Devin Shreckengost. Music by Devin S...

On February 27th, 2020, ATMI producers Daisy Carter, Devin Shreckengost, Riley Taylor, and AJ Yambao sat down with Peter Wallack, a professional stuntman for film and television. Born and raised in Alaska, Wallack has over 90 stunt credits on his IMdb page, including The Irishman, John Wick 3, Orange is the New Black, and Jessica Jones. Wallack talks about his career, shares behind-the-scene stori...

Dr. Anne Zink is the Chief Medical Officer of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. She has been a regular presence in the governor's nightly briefings on the coronavirus and is known for her calm demeanor and straightforward presentation of the facts. ATMI producer Danielle DuClos spoke with Dr. Zink remotely to talk about how Covid-19 affects youth, how it compares to other pandem...

In the second episode of our series, ATMI senior producer Daisy Carter interviewed her mother about being furloughed from work during the quarantine. That was in early April. It’s June now and Alaska is in phase four of re-opening, so Daisy’s mother is back to work. Daisy sat down with her mother for a two-part interview about returning to work. First, on May 25th, the morning her mother was heade...

ATMI producers Cornilius Nelson, Devin Shreckengost, Daisy Carter, Michael Stallworth, AJ Yambao, and Chloe Chobal connected over Zoom with friends Michael Martinez, Olivia Danner, and TJ Levshakoff for a roundtable discussion about police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd's murder. They talk about their experiences with the police, aspects of racism they've experienced and...

Tasha lives in Juneau, but has been going to school at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. When her campus shut down due to the coronavirus, she was concerned about returning home and inadvertently putting her grandparents at risk of infection, so she decided to quarantine at her sister’s place in Portland, Oregon. She also talks about healthy ways to stay preoccupied during quarantine, how th...

ATMI producer Danielle DuClos was in her sophomore year at the University of Missouri, studying journalism and political science, when her campus was shut down due to the coronavirus. However, her job at the campus newspaper still required her to come into work and continue reporting on public health and safety, leaving her unsure what to do, and stranded thousands of miles from her home state of...

After a visitor to his apartment tested positive for the coronavirus, ATMI producer Logan Smith took the responsible step to get himself tested, an experience he calls "very black market."  Logan also reflects on how quarantine has affected his already introverted lifestyle, binging Stanley Kubrick movies, and continuing to make content for his own podcast series. Hosted by Daisy Carter. Music by...

Before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, ATMI producer Ryan Danigole's father got a job out of state and the whole family was set to move to Albany, New York. Now that we are in the midst of a pandemic, the Danigole family is still planning to move this summer. Ryan sat down with his parents to talk about the prospect of moving across the country during a pandemic, anxieties about being so close t...