Instructor

Skip Polson has provided administrative and logistical support for 16 previous APIPA Conferences.  This will be his 17^th one!  His first conference was in Majuro in 2004.  He did not help with the 2005 conference in Palau, but he has enjoyed helping with every conference since then.

In the early years he made sure every participant received all the materials for their courses and a printed certificate for every course they attended.  Skip’s responsibilities have changed over the years as APIPA has gradually moved away from printed materials to digital ones.  Last year, for the first time, all conference participants were enabled to print their own certificates!  Now Skip helps make sure our online course presentations run smoothly on Zoom.

Skip and his wife Sandy were Peace Corps Volunteers on Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands from June 1969 to June 1971.  Skip was an Agricultural Extension Agent focused on increasing copra production, and he helped the atoll council obtain grant-in-aid funds to build a new school. Sandy taught English to the elementary school children and language-teaching methods to the other four teachers.  Two of the little girls on Utirik at that time were named Miako; Skip and Sandy liked that name a lot, so they borrowed it and used it for their second daughter who was born five years later.

From August 1973 to February 1976, Skip worked as the U. S. Peace Corps Representative for the Truk District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.  He consulted with local leaders to define the jobs for the 50 Peace Corps Volunteers assigned to Truk District, and provided administrative support for them.  Skip and Sandy’s older daughter Kaselehlia was born there.

Skip holds master’s degrees in urban planning from UCLA and agricultural economics from the University of Hawaii.  Most of his professional career has been in agriculturally-based community development.  He worked for Heifer Project International for 17 years, and was one of the original co-founders of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA).