

CIRI believes in and strives to support the educational, training and career goals of its shareholders, descendants and other Native Americans in the Cook Inlet region. As a result, the CIRI internship program places continuing and future students in various departments throughout the company to receive hands-on experience. CIRI's summer 2001 interns This summer, the CIRI internship program employed 10 positions filled by the following: Penelope Arca, Lolita Benavente, Hallie Bissett, Jessica Bissett, Wanda Conley, Danielle Larsen, Anna Smith, Padraic Spaulding, Jason Waisenan and Marjorie "Jorie" Zilys.
Penelope Arca, a grounds-keeping intern, reports to Saundra Volkheimer. Born in Seattle and raised in Alaska, Arca is of Skokomish/Yakima Indian and Inupiat heritage. She likes her summer job and enjoys working outside because it's helping her get into shape, which is good because this fall she will be going to a military basic training boot camp that will prepare her for the Navy Seabee Road Construction Battalion. Undaunted, she looks forward to boot camp because she feels ready for the challenge and it's an important part of her long-range plans.	Penelope Arca
Lolita Benavente, an accounting intern, is a member of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. The Coushatta have 700 members who own and operate the highly successful Grand Casino Coushatta. Born on Guam to a military family, she has made her home in Anchorage for six years. Recently, she obtained a bachelor of business administration degree in management at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and plans to work toward a master of business administration degree.	Lolita Benavente
Hallie Bissett is a historical research intern. Born and raised in Alaska's Matanuska Valley, she is a CIRI shareholder of Athabascan heritage. A CIRI Foundation scholarship recipient, Bissett is a junior at Fort Lewis College, located in Durango, Colo., where she is majoring in business administration. She enjoys her research job because she's learned a lot about Alaska Native culture and history. This is the third summer she has worked with CIRI Historian A. J. McClanahan. The main project Bissett worked on this summer is a book about Alaska Native history, which is titled, "A Reference In Time."	Hallie Bissett
Jessica Bissett, an intern with property management, was also born and raised in the Matanuska Valley and is a CIRI shareholder of Athabascan heritage. A CIRI Foundation scholarship recipient, she is a senior at Central Washington University majoring in music education. She is specializing in choral and instrumental music. She is also a McNair Scholars recipient, which represents and guides minorities in graduate school. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, she plans to attend graduate school to study music education and choral conducting. Her career goal is to teach in Alaska and to be an advocate of Alaska Native higher education. Wanda Conley is a grounds-keeping intern. She is of Inupiat heritage and was born in Anchorage. Since her father was in the military, she was raised throughout the United States. Eventually, her family moved to Point Hope, Alaska. Conley is a single mother of three children and is working toward a human service degree at UAA. Her career goal is to provide counseling in the areas of women's issues and substance abuse. Conley is happy to have spent the summer working outdoors.	Jessica Bissett
Danielle Larsen is a part-time marketing intern in the tourism department. In addition, she works part-time for Cook Inlet Tribal Council's youth enrichment program, which helps to prepare high school students for college. A CIRI descendant, she is of Alutiiq and Athabascan heritage. Born and raised in Anchorage, she graduated from East High School. This August, she will receive her bachelor's degree in English from UAA. Larsen credits her family, friends and co-workers for generously providing her with the encouragement and support to get through college and complete her degree. Eventually, she'd like to attend graduate school to study English and marketing. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her eight-year-old daughter Victoria.	Danielle Larsen
Anna Smith is an intern for the CIRI public relations department. Born and raised in Anchorage, she is a CIRI shareholder of Tlingit heritage. Early this summer, she received her master of fine arts (MFA) in creative writing at UAA, with a focus on playwriting. She plans to complete her master of arts (MA) in English at UAA in the spring. Currently, she's writing and revising short stories and adapting her play into a screenplay. She enjoys working on the CIRI Shareholder Update and feels it has helped her to become a more confident writer, which was an important factor in the completion of her MFA degree.	Anna Smith
Padraic Spaulding is a grounds-keeping intern who likes working outdoors. A CIRI shareholder, he is of Alutiiq and Athabascan heritage. He was born in Grants Pass, Ore. and was raised in Anchorage where he graduated from Dimond High School. At 15, he was a foreign exchange student in Nagoya, Japan. During his time there, he admired the Japanese cultural focus on honor, tradition and respect for family. Currently, he's attending UAA, where he's pursuing a double major in Japanese and economics. He hopes to attend graduate school outside and eventually have a career in international trade.	Padraic Spaulding
Jason Waisanen is a geographic information systems (GIS) intern in the land department. A CIRI descendant of Inupiat heritage, he was born in Anchorage and raised in the Matanuska Valley where he graduated from Colony High School. His favorite subjects in high school were math, science and computers. A CIRI Foundation scholarship recipient, he will attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he'll major in electrical engineering and minor in computer science. Once he earns his degree, he'd like to design hardware. In his spare time, he likes to work out and fish for halibut out of Seward. He also likes music, working on his truck and computers.	Jason Waisanen
Marjorie "Jorie" Zilys is a community relations intern. Born and raised in Anchorage, Zilys is a CIRI descendant of Inupiat heritage. A graduate of East High School, her high SAT scores earned her a theatre scholarship to UAA where she studied for one year. She is a CIRI Foundation scholarship recipient and attended Charter College for computer science. In addition to her help planning and organizing the CIRI Golf Tournament, she spoke on behalf of The CIRI Foundation as a scholarship recipient.	Marjorie "Jorie" Zilys
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