State tracks Wrangell class of '05, finds over half live out of state

Zach Taylor of Muddy Water Adventures is a self-described "small-town person." He likes striking up a conversation with his barista and greeting the familiar people he passes on the street. However, he acknowledges that life in small towns like Wrangell may not be for everyone.

"Folks who grew up here, (Wrangell) they either stay here and they really like it," said Taylor, or they "have never been back, not for any reason."

The Alaska Department of Labor is interested in the factors that motivate people to leave their Alaska hometowns for the Lower 48 or stick around in-state, where they can bolster its economy. In February, the department released its latest study of Alaska's high school graduating class of 2005, detailing where these grads ended up 16 years after they left high school.

Taylor was part of Wrangell's class of 2005.

Outmigration presents a significant problem for Alaska. In 2022, more people left than moved to the state for the 10th consecutive year, according to Department of Labor data. Outmigration is "a pretty important indicator of economic health," Nolan Klouda, director of the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development told the Alaska Beacon. "People do tend to vote with their feet and move to a place that sees more economic opportunity, has more job growth and more opportunity in general."

Students who attend in-state colleges are more likely to remain in Alaska. After graduating high school, more than half of the class of 2005 who attended college in-state remained in Alaska. Class of 2005 grads who attended college out-of-state tended to stay away - 75% of out-of-state students have set up their life outside Alaska.

The department's report is based on 2021 survey results.

Of the 25 members of Wrangell's class of 2005, 14 live out of state and 11 in Alaska, according to the state survey.

Taylor, Clover Jenkins and Rory Prunella were all members of Wrangell's class of 2005. Each has a unique life trajectory that either returned them to Wrangell, brought them elsewhere in Alaska, or took them out-of-state.

Jenkins had every intention of returning to Alaska after she left Wrangell in 2005 to study painting in Missouri. But after completing her four-year fine arts degree in 2009, she graduated into the midst of the Great Recession and had to join the military to maintain her financial stability. "My trajectory just kind of changed from there," she said.

Since entering the reserves, she's been mobilized in Korea, Honduras, Guatemala, Guyana and more. Working as an Army medic has given her hands-on experience with skills that civilian medical students typically take years to acquire, like using an X-ray and assisting surgeons. "Normally, it takes a couple years of schooling just to handle instruments," she explained.

Working for the military has its ups and downs. Spending time away from family on deployments is difficult, but Jenkins enjoys the comradery and close friendships she's formed. She is currently in graduate school studying public health.

When she graduated from high school, working in the medical field "wasn't a goal at the time, but it became one." She's come to love the research and fact-finding processes that are part of her chosen field in public health.

Though Missouri is home now, Jenkins misses elements of small-town life. "The sense of community that you have growing up in a place like Wrangell just doesn't exist anywhere else," she said.

After graduating in 2005, Taylor moved to Anchorage for college, but always intended to return to Wrangell. "I pretty much figured this was going to be home, I just didn't know when," he said. "When I graduated, my folks told me that they didn't care what I did so long as it was somewhat productive and brought me back to town."

He fulfilled their wish in 2011, moving home with an associate degree and about five years of Army service. Before starting his tour company, Muddy Water Adventures, he worked in construction and guided tours for other companies. Then, in 2016, he used his years of experience to establish a tour business of his own.

"There was a boat that happened to be for sale, so I grabbed the boat and went from there," he recalled. His first few seasons were rough. During his second trip in the new boat, its engine stopped working. His immediate reaction was, "Oh my God, this is what running a business is like. This is awful."

When the business was just getting started, he'd work other seasonal jobs alongside it, like crabbing, construction, driving a school bus and more. "I've cut out a few of those, but I still stay pretty busy," he said. "It got to the point where I had three jobs all at once. ... You didn't dare sit down when you ate lunch because you'd probably fall asleep."

Taylor's life has calmed down somewhat now that his water taxis and tours have established reputations among residents and visitors. He's also looking forward to taking his new 38-foot catamaran, the Island Cat, out for its first full summer season in the coming months.

Prunella was "a big baseball nut" when he attended high school. "Anytime anyone got me a gift, it was baseball related," he recalled. After playing college baseball in Colorado while studying sports management, he did an internship with the Albuquerque Isotopes, a minor league baseball team based in New Mexico.

Then, he moved to Michigan, where he went back to school for information technology. After doing an internship with the city of Ann Arbor, his wife got a job in Alaska and the family moved back to Prunella's home state. "I don't think I necessarily was planning to come back," he said. "But you know, my family still lives in Wrangell, so (Michigan) was a little far for them."

Since 2017, he's been based in Palmer, where he does IT networking for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. Palmer is "more connected" than Wrangell, he explained. "You can actually drive to other towns" but it "still has that small-town feel. It's definitely less busy than Michigan, which maybe was part of the thought when coming back."

The district Prunella works for is the size of West Virginia and encompasses around 40 different schools, meaning he is always driving from school to school, keeping the district's technological systems running. "It's a big area. It's a lot to cover," he said. "We're constantly going to all the different schools to make sure things are running and upgrading and whatnot."

Before the pandemic interrupted school sports, Prunella passed his love for baseball on to the rising generation by coaching the local high school team.