About:
Aleut from Ekuk Village, Winnemem Wintu from Big Bend Rancheria in California, and Navajo from Fish Point on the Navajo Nation Reservation in Arizona, Samuel Hiratsuka has a complex answer to the question: "Where is your family from?". However, being born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, his answer and pride in where he is from is clear. His father, the CFO of HOPE Community Resources, his mother, a Senior Researcher at Southcentral Foundation, his paternal grandmother, a noon duty at a local elementary school, along with his grandfathers, both proud veterans who served in the Vietnam war, all showed Samuel what it means to serve the public. Following in their footsteps as a Policy, Politics and Law Scholar at American University in Washington, D.C. with a focus in Federal Indian Law and Native Affairs, his work on campus restarting the Student Advocates for Native Communities student organization and his role as a co-leader in a spring alternative break focused on Federal Indian relations show his dedication to his culture and kin extending beyond state and regional bounds.
An ardent reader of the Anchorage Daily News and listener to "Alaska News Nightly", Samuel will gladly talk for hours about Alaskan politics, culture, or general goings-on. Limited in his free time due to his classwork and outside responsibilities, his idea of a good time can be traced to fishing, hiking, playing pool, and when the opportunity arises, to go on a long nighttime drive with friends talking and listening to music.
An ardent reader of the Anchorage Daily News and listener to "Alaska News Nightly", Samuel will gladly talk for hours about Alaskan politics, culture, or general goings-on. Limited in his free time due to his classwork and outside responsibilities, his idea of a good time can be traced to fishing, hiking, playing pool, and when the opportunity arises, to go on a long nighttime drive with friends talking and listening to music.