ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska Military Youth Academy cadets recently visited the Alaska’s News Source newsroom to learn more about careers in media.

Daylin Alston, 17, said he was surprised to see how many moving parts are involved in building a newscast.

“I learned about how news stations work, how they operate, all the buttons, all the cameras. I didn’t know it was this big,” he explained. “It’s a big process.”

Cadets had the opportunity to visit with on-air talent and get a closer look at what happens behind the scenes.

“At first, I just thought you had to be able to talk in front of a camera and all that stuff,” 16-year-old Qmia Taala said. “I feel like maybe if I wanted to be working in this kind of industry that I would have more of a chance because I could work somewhere in the background with helping out.”

These AMYA cadets are looking forward to their upcoming graduation ceremony on June 12.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – May is National Historic Preservation Month, and historians across Alaska are asking for increased awareness of Alaska’s historic buildings.

According to Historic Preservation Architect Sam Combs, the art of historic preservation is important, not only for the significance of protecting local history, but it also draws tourists to the city.

“You come to a city not to see the new shiny skyscrapers and buildings, you come to see the history of the town,” Combs said.

One example Combs points to is the Oscar Anderson House near downtown Anchorage.

“This was reputedly the first frame house in Anchorage; there have been log cabins and other structures, but this was the first frame house,” Combs explained.

The property has been perfectly captured in time; there are period-appropriate items spread throughout the house for visitors to see, and the wallpaper has been renovated to be the original that was there when the house was first built.

“I took home layers of wallpaper and then put them in our bathtubs, separated them, and that’s how we determined which was the earliest wallpaper and freezes around the building,” Combs said, explaining the process he used to nail down the earliest wallpaper in the home.

There have been some upgrades to the home, but none that directly interfere with the effort to preserve the building in time.

“This floor was like a trampoline, it had, I think, 2×4’s spanning 17 feet, so it was a little bouncy, so we reinforced that,” Combs explained. “This fireplace was totally dismayed, demolished because it had been damaged in an earthquake earlier, and so I did restoration drawings from photographs.”

The biggest change to the property is the location itself.

“It was originally across the road here where those that apartment building is right now, and then it got moved because they wanted to build out there,” Combs said.

Because it is National Historic Preservation Month, Combs says there is an easy way for you to get involved in preserving Alaska’s great history.

“If you’ve got a historic house in town, let us know, we can help out. We do, you know, grant small amounts of grants to help with planning and to preserve the building or structure,” Combs said.

If you don’t have a historic property, then Combs suggested the next best way you can support historic preservation is by visiting historic properties around the state.

If you have a historic property, you can reach out to the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation through its website.

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