2018 MATC Scholars Program: Native Student Groups and Your Success Panel

Mid-America Transportation Center Author

05/22/2019 Added

3 Plays

Description

Ms. Marisa Miakonda Cummings and Mr. Moises Padilla discuss Native student groups and how to be successful.

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[00:00:06.064]So remember the team made strategies
[00:00:07.250]for succeeding in a four year institution.
[00:00:09.320]And this morning we have Marisa again,
[00:00:13.190]and then today we also have Moises Padilla.
[00:00:17.171]He is the Assistant Director
[00:00:18.380]Office of Academic Success and Intercultural Services
[00:00:22.370]and the UNITE advisor,
[00:00:23.320]so he's the advisor to their group.
[00:00:28.080]He's from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln here,
[00:00:30.507]and the panel today will be on native student groups
[00:00:32.950]and your success.
[00:00:35.097]So I'll let you guys kind of introduce,
[00:00:38.060]well Marisa's introduced,
[00:00:39.860]but Moises if you want to introduce yourself.
[00:00:42.040]And then maybe tell a little bit about Oasis.
[00:00:45.720]And then, I don't know if we've talked about
[00:00:49.060]the student services at USD,
[00:00:51.508]maybe when Moises is done he could help with all that.
[00:00:54.543]All right, and then I'll let you guys take it away.
[00:00:55.910]All right.
[00:00:58.093]If I need to speak louder, let me know.
[00:01:00.011]But my name is Moises Padilla,
[00:01:01.523]I go by Moi.
[00:01:03.277]A lot of people can't say my name,
[00:01:04.170]and so y'all are more than welcome here,
[00:01:06.560]just call me Moi.
[00:01:09.069]I'm originally from El Paso, Texas,
[00:01:11.620]and so I'm a transplant to Nebraska.
[00:01:15.250]My family moved to Lexington, Nebraska,
[00:01:17.830]which is a really small town in the middle of the state.
[00:01:22.205](mingled audience responses)
[00:01:23.551]Are you from there?
[00:01:24.837]You used to live, okay.
[00:01:28.725]So yeah, I graduated from Lexington High School,
[00:01:31.623]came to the university,
[00:01:32.456]and now I work at the university.
[00:01:34.963]I took a three year break
[00:01:36.660]to go to grad school out in Colorado
[00:01:38.250]and then came back.
[00:01:41.260]One of my main jobs at UNL right now is
[00:01:44.350]working in our Multicultural Center.
[00:01:46.270]So my job is to promote academic excellence,
[00:01:49.480]social engagement, and diversity awareness
[00:01:51.730]on our UNL campus.
[00:01:56.130]It's not really part of my job,
[00:01:57.780]but I kind of consider it my duty
[00:01:59.670]is to also serve as UNITE advisor.
[00:02:03.371]And when I was a student I was,
[00:02:04.910]even though I'm not Native American
[00:02:07.230]I'm very connected with my indigenous roots,
[00:02:10.177]but even though I don't check the Native American box,
[00:02:13.680]I was very involved with planning pow wows.
[00:02:17.724]And so when the students asked me if I would be willing
[00:02:19.340]to serve as their advisor,
[00:02:20.400]I was like, of course, I'd be happy to.
[00:02:25.400]I've been at the University since 2013,
[00:02:27.840]and the other thing that I also do in my free time
[00:02:31.590]I'm also a PHD student,
[00:02:32.477]and my research is on how
[00:02:34.330]to better support underrepresented students on campus,
[00:02:38.470]predominately white institutions,
[00:02:40.510]so I do homework in the mornings.
[00:02:47.077]Did I get everything?
[00:02:48.465](audience laughs)
[00:02:50.570]You all know my name is Marisa Cummings.
[00:02:54.313]And I guess I haven't talked about my role
[00:02:55.380]at the University of South Dakota.
[00:02:57.120]I'm the director of an office called Native Student Services
[00:03:00.060]and we are an offshoot of the student services,
[00:03:04.857]a larger department on campus.
[00:03:05.690]And my office is housed in what we call
[00:03:10.110]the Native American Cultural Center.
[00:03:13.321]The University of South Dakota has a very different set up
[00:03:16.010]than what I was used to at the University of Iowa.
[00:03:19.313]At the University of Iowa,
[00:03:20.200]which is a different set up
[00:03:21.160]than here a the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:03:23.916]So at the University of Iowa we had
[00:03:26.030]a multicultural department called
[00:03:28.780]the Center for Diversity and Enrichment,
[00:03:30.890]and they did a lot of the recruitment,
[00:03:32.700]retention programming, student scholarships,
[00:03:35.407]things like that.
[00:03:36.240]And then we had cultural centers,
[00:03:38.956]and we had all kinds
[00:03:39.810]of cultural centers; LGBTQI, Asian-Pacific islander.
[00:03:45.310]We actually because of the indigenous roots that we share
[00:03:46.900]with some of our southern brothers and sisters,
[00:03:48.830]we called it the Latino Native American Cultural Center.
[00:03:52.010]We also had a Afro house.
[00:03:53.757]So we had all these different houses
[00:03:56.310]where students could go and express their identities.
[00:04:00.860]They housed a lot of our student organizations,
[00:04:02.980]we could cook there,
[00:04:04.618]it was like a family house.
[00:04:07.580]One of my, I'll call her a sister now,
[00:04:10.018]but we went through our undergraduate work together
[00:04:11.330]in Thin Elk.
[00:04:12.163]They got married there,
[00:04:14.120]and their reception was there.
[00:04:15.640]When people had babies we would have
[00:04:18.324]their welcoming ceremonies there.
[00:04:20.820]So it was just a really active place to be
[00:04:23.640]for our Native student body.
[00:04:26.408]At USD there's only one cultural center,
[00:04:28.730]and that is the Native American Cultural Center,
[00:04:31.423]because Native students are the highest
[00:04:33.600]underrepresented population in the state.
[00:04:36.020]And so there's also an office called
[00:04:39.340]the Center for Diversity and Community on campus,
[00:04:42.040]and they house a lot of other diversity organizations.
[00:04:46.564]So we have a kitchen on campus,
[00:04:47.410]students do Indian Taco Sales,
[00:04:49.920]we have someone who was at USD
[00:04:52.070]so they probably know a lot
[00:04:53.190]of the activities that went on there.
[00:04:55.300]So for Native American Heritage Month a lot
[00:04:57.220]of the programming is coming out of my office.
[00:05:00.030]We're bringing Annita Lucchesi to come talk
[00:05:02.700]about the missing and murdered murdered,
[00:05:04.529]and her PhD work with mapping
[00:05:06.480]and actually creating a database
[00:05:08.270]of the missing and murdered women
[00:05:10.171]across the United States and Canada.
[00:05:12.220]A lot of that type of programming comes out of the office.
[00:05:14.630]We're also doing a harvest dinner.
[00:05:17.360]So we're doing basically all traditional foods,
[00:05:19.560]and having a program that talks about traditional foods too.
[00:05:22.890]So those are the types of things that we do in our office,
[00:05:25.420]in addition to supporting students with retention efforts,
[00:05:29.390]and that means
[00:05:31.231]so right now is midterms, which is always not
[00:05:32.900]a real fun time for students,
[00:05:35.213]and I'm a student too
[00:05:36.330]so I'm also going through midterms,
[00:05:38.200]but one thing we did is for our freshmen.
[00:05:40.440]So studies show us that first year students are less likely
[00:05:44.780]to connect with resources on campus,
[00:05:46.650]because they're connecting to their environment
[00:05:48.400]in the residence halls, right?
[00:05:49.860]So they're meeting people on their floor,
[00:05:51.380]they're figuring out how
[00:05:52.470]to navigate the university, or the institution.
[00:05:56.380]So they're less likely to reach out
[00:05:58.420]to resources on campus.
[00:06:00.200]And so we're sending out a little gift box,
[00:06:04.000]or a I don't know what to Care package.
[00:06:06.312]Care package, perfect.
[00:06:07.648]And on that we put a little note,
[00:06:10.650]and it's from Native Student Services
[00:06:12.954]and it talks about all of our programming.
[00:06:13.950]And then our students are going to deliver that.
[00:06:16.504]They're going to the different dorms
[00:06:18.367]and dropping them off,
[00:06:19.390]talking to the students, engaging them,
[00:06:21.540]and letting them know what we do at the NACC,
[00:06:23.160]because a lot of times if somebody like me
[00:06:25.150]shows up at their dorm they're like,
[00:06:26.864]"Whoa, what are you doing here?" (laughs)
[00:06:28.320]They want to see other students,
[00:06:30.124]they want to talk to other students,
[00:06:31.180]they want to relate to other students.
[00:06:33.320]So that's one of the things that we're doing right now.
[00:06:37.600]And then of course when the students come in
[00:06:39.430]if there's an issue that comes up,
[00:06:41.960]people have to go home for funerals, things like that,
[00:06:43.740]they come to our office,
[00:06:46.072]and I kind of communicate with different people on campus
[00:06:49.591]to make sure they get the resources
[00:06:50.424]that they need to be successful.
[00:06:51.729]One student right now is
[00:06:52.562]doing a rodeo down in New Mexico.
[00:06:56.970]She's one of the finalists for ODEO,
[00:06:59.359]and we had to make sure that
[00:07:01.729]she was getting time off,
[00:07:02.562]she had all of her homework in advance,
[00:07:04.070]things like that.
[00:07:09.070]We also do graduation receptions.
[00:07:10.170]They plan for graduation receptions
[00:07:11.880]that are people specific.
[00:07:14.187]And we also love smudging.
[00:07:16.230]At the NAC we don't have the fire alarms
[00:07:18.600]that you have at most places on campus,
[00:07:21.080]and we have a waiver that students can sign
[00:07:24.470]so that if you go into the residence halls,
[00:07:26.070]if you need to smudge, you can do that.
[00:07:29.810]It's a fire code, they put like a sticker on your door.
[00:07:34.380]That's one thing that I'm really proud
[00:07:35.810]that we do on campus.
[00:07:37.490]Our students when they're having a rough day,
[00:07:38.988]they can come to the NAC
[00:07:40.537]and just center themselves and be who we are.
[00:07:44.320]And that's a really important service
[00:07:46.200]I think, that we offer.
[00:07:48.860]In addition to that, we do orientations that are specific
[00:07:52.280]to Native students on campus when they come in.
[00:07:55.828]That's always a nice thing students talk about.
[00:07:58.440]A lot of this is also finding out best practices
[00:08:01.930]in terms of higher education.
[00:08:03.220]What are other institutions doing that's successful,
[00:08:06.180]and then talking to students.
[00:08:07.540]What makes your experience special?
[00:08:09.540]Because essentially, the universities exist for you.
[00:08:13.849]So it's all about what works for you,
[00:08:16.308]and what would work for you as as student
[00:08:17.800]to give you what you think you need.
[00:08:29.519]Come back from Colorado?
[00:08:31.910]Yeah.
[00:08:32.920]My wife, she made me.
[00:08:34.452](laughing)
[00:08:35.910]So funny story.
[00:08:39.200]So being from the southwest,
[00:08:42.260]I kind of want to go back
[00:08:43.190]to the southwest at some point.
[00:08:45.740]So moving to Colorado for grad school
[00:08:47.790]I was like, oh I'm getting closer?
[00:08:51.480]After I graduated my wife was also doing her masters,
[00:08:54.560]and so when she graduated it was really hard for her
[00:08:57.790]to find jobs in her field in Colorado,
[00:08:59.830]and so she found a job in Omaha.
[00:09:02.690]So it was kind of her turn.
[00:09:04.580]That's why we came back, but I love UNL.
[00:09:09.540]This was a place where I faced many challenges as a student,
[00:09:15.500]but it was also a place where
[00:09:17.780]there was a lot of growth as a person.
[00:09:20.900]And I think one of the coolest things
[00:09:24.160]about being a college student is,
[00:09:25.669]yes college is hard.
[00:09:28.071]It's meant to test you and challenge you,
[00:09:32.040]whether it's in your classes,
[00:09:34.770]adjusting to the different town or environment,
[00:09:39.132]and you grow from it.
[00:09:42.330]You learn strategies on how to cope with that stress.
[00:09:45.620]You meet people who will become
[00:09:49.060]very supportive people in your...
[00:09:51.450]I met my wife in college,
[00:09:53.431]and so she's very supportive.
[00:09:55.360]But even other friends who are now...
[00:09:59.720]I went to school with people who are now
[00:10:03.220]surgeons, attorneys, social workers, teachers,
[00:10:09.260]and so you have this network of people
[00:10:11.870]that you can rely on.
[00:10:15.372]It's a cool way for you to...
[00:10:17.380]I think many times in our communities we hear
[00:10:19.370]all the negative stuff.
[00:10:21.079]In college it's where you start seeing,
[00:10:24.841]damn we like doing some good stuff.
[00:10:28.060]I'm really proud of my heritage.
[00:10:30.390]I'm really proud of who I am
[00:10:31.647]and what I'm trying to become.
[00:10:33.980]And so it's very empowering to be among other people
[00:10:38.920]who get you in a way, if that makes sense.
[00:10:41.480]But long story, long answer to your question,
[00:10:45.940]my wife brought me back,
[00:10:47.780]but I'm okay with that. (laughing)
[00:10:50.400]I think just to feed off of something
[00:10:52.020]that you were talking about.
[00:10:53.980]The relationships and the networking that we form
[00:10:56.250]while we're in school is so important.
[00:10:58.910]There's people that I know, professors,
[00:11:02.930]people that were students.
[00:11:05.580]In our community at Iowa we had a couple
[00:11:09.330]and they were actually Navajo,
[00:11:10.527]and they had five kids when they were in school.
[00:11:15.170]And Orenzo, their names were Orenzo and Cheryl Schneider,
[00:11:17.523]and Orenzo was actually in medical school.
[00:11:19.850]So he completed his medical school
[00:11:21.723]and was in his neurology residency,
[00:11:23.836]and Cheryl was in school and they were still having kids
[00:11:26.830]while they were in school.
[00:11:28.280]They ran the University of Iowa pow wow,
[00:11:30.320]when it was the largest university student-run pow wow
[00:11:33.550]in the United States.
[00:11:35.800]They held us together.
[00:11:37.698]They were like our parents when we were in school.
[00:11:40.108]You all know that I had a two-year-old daughter
[00:11:43.320]when I went to school.
[00:11:45.120]They helped with daycare,
[00:11:46.640]we would watch each other's kids.
[00:11:47.930]We just became a community on our own,
[00:11:50.840]and I have never known that type of support.
[00:11:53.685]Like you were saying,
[00:11:55.700]some of the negative things that happen in our community,
[00:11:57.716]we don't always feel supported.
[00:11:59.236]But what we did there is created
[00:12:01.280]a community that supported one another.
[00:12:02.913]I think that happens at many institutions,
[00:12:05.060]it's not unique to the University of Iowa.
[00:12:07.276]but this summer I'm at Furiorandenkal
[00:12:10.327]and I'm at Grandet Tree and I'm standing there.
[00:12:12.480]Then here dances by me Orenzo,
[00:12:13.570]who's like, "Hey", and I was like, "What?"
[00:12:16.940]He was there with his family,
[00:12:18.356]and I saw his kids grow up.
[00:12:20.100]I saw his daughter eventually come to Iowa.
[00:12:22.470]I think she transferred out
[00:12:23.828]and went to another institution.
[00:12:25.950]Just being able to see people you care about,
[00:12:27.577]see their families grow,
[00:12:29.060]see them do amazing things in Indian country.
[00:12:31.460]Because Indian country is so much bigger
[00:12:33.020]than what we know, right?
[00:12:33.853]It's so much bigger than Nebraska,
[00:12:36.350]and seeing these Native youth grow up
[00:12:39.407]and do these amazing things,
[00:12:41.080]to me is so empowering and beautiful.
[00:12:44.107]And that's what we want for all of our kids, right?
[00:12:46.593]To have that opportunity to go
[00:12:48.500]and do those amazing things.
[00:12:50.076]I've been able to sit
[00:12:51.940]at the table with people from NARF,
[00:12:54.396]the Native American Rights Fund,
[00:12:56.040]which was always like my idol as a kid,
[00:12:58.210]I was like, "Oh NARF!"
[00:12:59.258]I was able to sit at the table with John Echohawk
[00:13:02.207]and have a conversation.
[00:13:03.645]Those are really beautiful opportunities
[00:13:06.390]that come from having that base in education,
[00:13:10.098]and knowing people that know people that know people,
[00:13:13.287]and creating those relationships.
[00:13:15.810]That's nothing unique to us as indigenous people.
[00:13:17.926]We were always networking,
[00:13:19.400]always around other tribes,
[00:13:20.427]always connecting with people,
[00:13:22.560]because connection is who we are
[00:13:24.218]and forming these connections.
[00:13:27.668]One of my favorite parts of my job is
[00:13:29.788]so students know they can come to me if
[00:13:32.207]maybe they didn't do so well on their first exams.
[00:13:35.727]I sometimes hear like, "You need to go talk to Moi."
[00:13:39.436](laughing)
[00:13:40.908]You know like giving each other advice and support.
[00:13:43.658]I have this personal saying that,
[00:13:47.440]if not us then who, type of thing.
[00:13:49.628]And so if we don't take care of each other,
[00:13:51.748]who's gonna take care of us,
[00:13:53.720]so let's take care of each other.
[00:13:57.480]So yeah, that sense of community,
[00:13:58.980]that sense of I got your back,
[00:14:02.580]you got my back type of thing, it's important.
[00:14:05.180]Especially if you're coming to whatever university, right?
[00:14:09.356]I think it's really really important
[00:14:11.420]to find your people or find that person,
[00:14:13.480]and once you find them don't let go.
[00:14:15.567]Check in with them being like "Hey Dr. Cornelius,
[00:14:20.127]"I'm interested in engineering."
[00:14:21.990]You know, just show up.
[00:14:24.017]Be visible, be present,
[00:14:27.148]because then people will recognize you,
[00:14:30.805]will look out for you in a way.
[00:14:35.507]That, well I'm happy that you're in your room all the time.
[00:14:41.030]Right, I think what happens a lot of times
[00:14:44.130]is Native faculty and staff take on responsibilities
[00:14:50.110]that they feel are cultural responsibilities with students.
[00:14:53.508]We have student counseling on campus,
[00:14:55.660]and we do have someone in the student counseling center
[00:14:57.938]that does know about Native culture.
[00:15:01.750]She actually lives in Rosebud, she's not Native,
[00:15:03.620]but she has a really good foundation
[00:15:05.436]and understanding of Native mental health.
[00:15:08.116]I've gone through some really hard times with students.
[00:15:13.460]I've had students that have been
[00:15:14.510]in domestic violence situations,
[00:15:17.380]students who couldn't afford
[00:15:20.510]to be in school when they got there.
[00:15:22.320]So working with our administration
[00:15:24.310]and having those relationships with people,
[00:15:25.850]where I can find financial aid for them.
[00:15:27.230]some money to go to a funeral,
[00:15:30.370]and being able to find a funding can support them
[00:15:33.646]to give them enough gas money to get home for a funeral.
[00:15:36.720]Those types of things we don't talk about often, I think.
[00:15:39.788]What I'm trying to do,
[00:15:42.200]one of my projects right now,
[00:15:44.596]is trying to grasp that information
[00:15:49.470]on what we're doing that's not being recorded.
[00:15:52.476]There's a lot of things we record in data
[00:15:56.840]to see how students succeed and things like that.
[00:15:59.250]So I'm trying to grasp this data that's non-tangible, right?
[00:16:02.270]That's relationships with students,
[00:16:03.860]that's talking about those types of things.
[00:16:05.920]So what we've done is we've actually,
[00:16:08.660]I'm in the advising database now,
[00:16:11.110]so we have this system we use, or this portal,
[00:16:13.450]where I can go in and say
[00:16:14.653]this student just went through
[00:16:16.150]A, B, and C, and it stays confidential.
[00:16:18.890]And so the student, her instructors can see it,
[00:16:22.320]or his instructors can see it,
[00:16:24.450]their advisors can see it,
[00:16:25.660]so everyone's on the same page with the student.
[00:16:27.660]So it's more of a wraparound approach
[00:16:29.660]to making sure that student's successful.
[00:16:31.780]That way the instructor's not like, "What's going on?
[00:16:33.498]"Why haven't they been in class in three days?"
[00:16:35.890]We all are on the same page
[00:16:37.340]with what's going on with the students.
[00:16:40.018]There can also be, you know
[00:16:41.670]one of our students had legal troubles.
[00:16:43.050]They were at another institution
[00:16:44.830]and something happened there
[00:16:45.663]and all of a sudden they got extradited to another state.
[00:16:49.560]Which ended up, everything was resolved
[00:16:51.266]and they came back,
[00:16:52.188]but they were gone for a week and a half of class.
[00:16:53.868]So we had to figure out
[00:16:55.087]how to get them back into class
[00:16:56.498]and make sure that they didn't have
[00:16:57.818]to drop out or withdraw.
[00:16:59.178]So those are the real things that we deal with, right?
[00:17:02.100]I think we deal with them effectively and well,
[00:17:05.787]but it takes a team.
[00:17:07.410]It's not just me,
[00:17:08.513]it's not just someone in advising,
[00:17:10.870]or some kind of administrator,
[00:17:12.490]we all work together and communicate to make that happen.
[00:17:15.690]But these are really real scenarios.
[00:17:17.790]I mean you guys are thinking like,
[00:17:19.647]"Yeah this stuff really happens," right?
[00:17:20.978]But for the most part our students
[00:17:23.956]do a really good job
[00:17:25.840]of finding those connections on campus
[00:17:27.530]and other departments too.
[00:17:28.700]So they may have an advisor in business
[00:17:30.610]that they really like and they connect well with,
[00:17:32.510]and then that adviser offers opportunities,
[00:17:35.050]they offer scholarships.
[00:17:36.270]So those relationships and connections
[00:17:37.880]are really important too.
[00:17:39.348]And the majority of students are not going through
[00:17:42.180]really traumatic events, right?
[00:17:43.750]But they do come up
[00:17:44.627]and they do need to be addressed,
[00:17:46.310]because that's how we retain students,
[00:17:48.268]and that's how they persist to graduation.
[00:17:50.130]Which is what we want, is for them to graduate.
[00:17:53.967]Yeah, thank you.
[00:17:55.047]So the way I look at it is you're like an athlete,
[00:18:02.330]or a musician, a performer, and I'm your coach.
[00:18:05.774]I'm here to coach you on how to endure your transition
[00:18:08.650]on how to navigate campus.
[00:18:11.050]It's really important to connect with your adviser.
[00:18:13.240]It's really important to connect with your faculty member,
[00:18:16.120]but if you're like, I don't even know how
[00:18:17.520]to talk to this professor,
[00:18:18.855]or my adviser is very short
[00:18:21.560]and I really have a hard time explaining
[00:18:24.690]kind of everything that's going on,
[00:18:26.610]then I can coach you
[00:18:27.443]on, okay here's how you bring this up.
[00:18:30.326]If the student is having challenges for example,
[00:18:35.400]say maybe you're taking chem
[00:18:37.676]and calculus at the same time,
[00:18:39.306]and you're like, man this is too much.
[00:18:41.287]We can work with you.
[00:18:43.756]Basically put you on a,
[00:18:45.335]like tell you about different resources on campus,
[00:18:48.434]we have free tutoring.
[00:18:51.095]All sorts of academic support that way
[00:18:54.060]you have all the tools that you need.
[00:18:56.047]You should have all the support you need to do well,
[00:19:00.815]but we know that there's more than just studying hours.
[00:19:04.687]So maybe you're just not feeling well.
[00:19:08.415]We have a counseling and psychological office on campus,
[00:19:12.210]and students can go there and talk to a person for free.
[00:19:15.487]But some students don't want to go to the Health Center,
[00:19:18.900]because it's like I'm trying to, you know.
[00:19:22.047]They're just hesitant.
[00:19:23.610]Well we have staff from their office
[00:19:26.007]that come to the Multicultural Center
[00:19:27.580]and we just have drop-in hours,
[00:19:29.820]and so it's very informal.
[00:19:32.520]We do have a room reserved on the third floor
[00:19:35.090]in case you're like,
[00:19:36.007]no I need to talk to somebody one-on-one.
[00:19:38.640]You don't have to fill out paperwork,
[00:19:40.040]because if you go to the Health Center
[00:19:41.330]you have to fill out paperwork
[00:19:42.520]and do all that stuff.
[00:19:44.186]What we hear is just like you're saying,
[00:19:46.840]hey can I talk to you for a minute?
[00:19:48.380]I have a couple questions that I'm struggling with.
[00:19:52.186]And mental health, I don't think we talk about it enough,
[00:19:57.047]I think we think it's something that doesn't happen,
[00:20:03.680]but it's very common, right?
[00:20:05.520]There's a lot of stressors out there
[00:20:08.920]whether it's academic, social, personal,
[00:20:11.695]and so being able to have
[00:20:14.300]those conversations with people.
[00:20:15.740]Especially, one thing that I'm very interested is our men.
[00:20:18.327]Our guys don't like, look they hate
[00:20:20.083]talking about their feelings, right?
[00:20:22.540]And I don't know why.
[00:20:25.020]I'm usually the one like,
[00:20:25.853]hey I need to talk to you,
[00:20:27.400]and they're like, "Oh here we go again."
[00:20:28.904]Sometimes I feel like that older big brother
[00:20:31.750]who's kind of annoying them,
[00:20:33.450]but I think you need to figure out
[00:20:36.586]who you can talk to.
[00:20:38.690]Because yes academics are important,
[00:20:41.707]but it's also your wellbeing,
[00:20:43.594]and if you're not well,
[00:20:45.511]more than likely you might
[00:20:48.687]struggle a little bit in academics.
[00:20:53.800]There's two things that you just brought to mind.
[00:20:56.660]So one, I think that the process of healing
[00:21:00.138]and identity development happens a lot.
[00:21:02.710]Some of you may be, you know,
[00:21:05.060]have gone on the track when you're 18,
[00:21:06.010]and you go to that tribal college for a few years
[00:21:09.470]and then transfer in,
[00:21:10.394]but most people aren't on that track.
[00:21:13.780]There's this cool process that we're doing
[00:21:14.643]that we do as individuals,
[00:21:16.870]and that's happening while you're in college and to me
[00:21:18.875]that's what I found most important
[00:21:21.228]when I was in school.
[00:21:22.910]You know in high school
[00:21:24.527]it's all about retaining knowledge, right?
[00:21:27.828]It's like, a b c d e f g
[00:21:29.228]and you have to remember that, and re-recite it.
[00:21:31.080]But in college, they have you read something
[00:21:34.050]and say what's your opinion.
[00:21:35.043]I remember I was like what?
[00:21:36.978]You want to know my opinion?
[00:21:38.513]So your thoughts, your ideas,
[00:21:40.380]like we talked about earlier,
[00:21:41.810]problem solving, critical thinking,
[00:21:43.036]that's where that comes in,
[00:21:44.103]and you're being taught how to do that.
[00:21:46.110]Which to me having my thoughts
[00:21:49.060]and opinions valued like that,
[00:21:50.327]I wasn't used to that.
[00:21:51.760]I think that's a really important part to play
[00:21:53.788]in the identity development,
[00:21:55.367]and then personal healing as we go through you know.
[00:21:58.887]I had to go through things
[00:22:00.650]where I lost people while I was in school.
[00:22:02.668]I had to learn how to deal with grief.
[00:22:03.957]I had to learn how to deal
[00:22:05.810]with all these things on a personal level.
[00:22:08.258]And that was really difficult,
[00:22:10.680]but like we were talking about,
[00:22:12.068]is all the self-worth that happens through that process,
[00:22:14.570]and being away from family
[00:22:15.578]also causes you to grow in different ways.
[00:22:18.036]The other thing I wanted to talk about
[00:22:20.738]is resources on campus.
[00:22:22.313]There's something called supplemental instruction.
[00:22:24.430]I'm sure you have that here,
[00:22:25.365]it's at most institutions.
[00:22:26.246]When you're taking those tougher classes,
[00:22:29.396]there's free group tutoring you can go to.
[00:22:32.430]So it's not like individual tutoring
[00:22:34.210]where you feel awkward with this tutor
[00:22:36.410]and you don't really know them,
[00:22:38.035]but it's a group of people like in this room
[00:22:39.286]and they're doing general tutoring.
[00:22:41.920]It's almost like a second class,
[00:22:44.930]and then you can ask questions as you need to.
[00:22:46.820]Supplemental instruction is really really valuable,
[00:22:49.300]and students who go
[00:22:51.270]it's the difference between an A and a B,
[00:22:52.908]it's the difference between a D and an A.
[00:22:54.696]It's really important to take advantage of that side.
[00:22:55.976]There's also individual tutoring
[00:22:59.810]that's offered on most campuses
[00:23:01.810]for multicultural students for free.
[00:23:04.617]We also have mentoring programs
[00:23:07.070]that are really important to get involved in
[00:23:08.650]because you get to have a relationship
[00:23:11.080]with maybe an upperclassmen,
[00:23:12.930]develop that relationship,
[00:23:14.250]and they can kind of guide you through the process too.
[00:23:16.370]Because sometimes you don't want to come talk to us,
[00:23:18.360]because we are like (laughs) old,
[00:23:20.298](laughing)
[00:23:21.748]and you want to talk to someone that's your age,
[00:23:23.447]and that's totally normal and okay.
[00:23:25.874]I'm trying to think of what other resources
[00:23:29.870]in terms of academics,
[00:23:31.298]that there are on campus.
[00:23:34.290]So usually a lot of those SI classes
[00:23:36.130]are in the math, the science,
[00:23:37.950]the business courses,
[00:23:39.816]chem courses, things like that,
[00:23:41.113]that are pretty tough for everyone.
[00:23:43.710]So there's a pretty large SI group.
[00:23:46.506]Another thing that really helps for our students,
[00:23:50.730]if you're involved in Oasis, in our office,
[00:23:56.810]it's not mandatory,
[00:23:57.690]but the students don't know that.
[00:23:59.440]So we just tell them, oh you have to come
[00:24:00.450]get your mid-semester grade from us.
[00:24:03.340]And so it's a good way for them to know
[00:24:05.338]where they're at in the middle of the semester,
[00:24:08.150]so in case you have to change you can.
[00:24:11.900]In college you can change a class from graded
[00:24:14.780]to pass/no pass, it won't affect your GPA.
[00:24:16.920]So if you have a scholarship
[00:24:18.460]or if you have to pick up the slack,
[00:24:21.590]it's early on in the semester.
[00:24:23.140]And so we do that, we do study hours, group study hours,
[00:24:28.680]very similar to what you were talking about.
[00:24:31.258]So it's finding those people, right?
[00:24:34.700]Finding the individuals who will
[00:24:38.890]kind of guide you and coach you,
[00:24:40.986]and how to do all that stuff.
[00:24:57.187]I'll tell you guys actually a funny story.
[00:25:00.210]So I went to school in the city,
[00:25:02.450]graduated from my high school,
[00:25:04.990]and when I got to Iowa I stayed in my dorm room.
[00:25:10.250]So I did go to, it was like our TRIO program office.
[00:25:16.870]I did connect there with my advisor
[00:25:18.860]whose name was Nancy Ruffles,
[00:25:20.581]and we were very close.
[00:25:22.820]She kind of saw or thought
[00:25:24.040]or maybe something's going on,
[00:25:25.530]and I was ready to go.
[00:25:27.150]So one day I open my door,
[00:25:29.470]and here's six foot three Navajo Tracy Peterson (laughs)
[00:25:33.870]standing there with all of the, we called it AISA,
[00:25:37.277]American Indian Student Association.
[00:25:38.610]They had come to my dorm and were like,
[00:25:41.085]"Come on, we're meeting, come with us.
[00:25:42.115]"You know we have a car, we'll give you a ride."
[00:25:43.875]I was like, "No, I don't really want to meet."
[00:25:45.890]They picked me up (laughs)
[00:25:47.485]and made me go to the AISA meeting,
[00:25:50.110]and I wasn't connecting with students
[00:25:52.395]that were like me, right?
[00:25:53.760]I was walking to class, I felt super alone, super isolated.
[00:25:58.733]I was in some classes that I felt like
[00:26:02.410]what they were saying about native people was way off base,
[00:26:07.837]and so that was further isolating me.
[00:26:10.120]And so that day, and I joke about it now,
[00:26:13.180]but really them making me go to the cultural center
[00:26:16.000]and connect with the student organization,
[00:26:18.050]is what kept me at Iowa.
[00:26:19.300]That became my friend base,
[00:26:21.010]that became my support system,
[00:26:23.244]and then the faculty and staff that came too.
[00:26:25.740]So every Thursday night we had a potluck.
[00:26:28.440]So every Thursday night everybody was at the center,
[00:26:30.840]and that really helped me.
[00:26:33.330]So Nancy tipping off other people,
[00:26:35.544]then I'm a junior
[00:26:38.210]and Nancy tells me there's a student
[00:26:40.630]and she needs some mentoring.
[00:26:45.160]And so this was informal, right?
[00:26:46.580]She says, "I'd like you to go connect with her."
[00:26:48.530]I end up finding her,
[00:26:50.520]she was Menominee and she was in the dorms,
[00:26:52.144]and she was expecting a baby.
[00:26:54.620]She had come to school pregnant and nobody knew.
[00:26:58.355]We had to find her, a way to get her into housing,
[00:27:01.940]find her an apartment.
[00:27:02.970]So this is something that we
[00:27:04.590]as a collective group did to support her.
[00:27:07.904]She ended up, now she has her PhD,
[00:27:10.444]and it makes me cry.
[00:27:15.045]It makes me get really emotional,
[00:27:17.670]because what she went through
[00:27:19.377]and where she came from,
[00:27:20.885]she had very little support.
[00:27:25.210]She had two kids while she was an undergrad,
[00:27:28.020]got her masters,
[00:27:29.050]and now she's a teacher at
[00:27:30.730]the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa.
[00:27:33.080]And she's done amazing.
[00:27:34.560]I don't want to give people's names out here,
[00:27:36.040]but when you see people do
[00:27:38.230]and accomplish things like that,
[00:27:39.900]and it didn't happen quick,
[00:27:41.100]it was a 15-year process for her,
[00:27:43.943]and her and Stacy are married now (laughs),
[00:27:47.750]and they do amazing work at the University of Iowa.
[00:27:49.870]But just seeing that connection
[00:27:53.310]that we can make with other humans.
[00:27:55.010]And then Nancy ended up being my director,
[00:27:57.430]who was my former adviser
[00:27:58.760]when I worked for our
[00:27:59.950]Center for Diversity and Enrichment.
[00:28:01.226]So now she went from being my mentor, or my advisor,
[00:28:05.325]to becoming a mentor, to becoming my director.
[00:28:07.444]And she taught me so much
[00:28:12.290]about what works for students,
[00:28:15.270]and about the passion that we have
[00:28:17.113]for making our students succeed.
[00:28:19.547]Even though our journeys may be nontraditional,
[00:28:22.650]we may be different than majority students,
[00:28:24.940]that you know may come from
[00:28:27.153]three generations of higher education.
[00:28:30.755]But she taught me techniques that can work,
[00:28:34.260]and now I brought that with me
[00:28:36.600]when I went to other institutions.
[00:28:38.050]So I brought that knowledge
[00:28:39.340]and that understanding with me.
[00:28:42.390]So yeah, I guess that would be my take on it.
[00:28:44.986]Sorry that I cried.
[00:28:46.405](laughter)
[00:28:49.036]So three tips or something,
[00:28:51.860]as you focus on your transition.
[00:28:53.840]Number one I would say,
[00:28:56.010]your study skills and time management skills.
[00:28:59.730]I think that trips up a lot of people,
[00:29:03.328]and it's figuring out how do you study for
[00:29:05.808]a different type of class, right?
[00:29:08.737]So if you're at the university,
[00:29:11.619]obviously you've proven that you can be there
[00:29:14.027]and you've got what it takes,
[00:29:15.800]but now you have to adjust to maybe taking a class
[00:29:19.830]with a hundred people in the class, right?
[00:29:22.240]So figuring out how do you study
[00:29:23.920]and then how do you manage your time.
[00:29:27.320]The other thing is again,
[00:29:29.328]finding your people, finding your group.
[00:29:32.220]Whether that's the volleyball team,
[00:29:35.420]whether that's a Native American group on campus,
[00:29:39.850]or a fraternity.
[00:29:41.730]Whatever it is, you have to make a connection
[00:29:44.800]to meet other people.
[00:29:47.460]And so study skills with your time management,
[00:29:50.707]how you're managing your time,
[00:29:51.980]what you're studying, finding a fit,
[00:29:53.507]finding a community of people who get you.
[00:29:55.867]And then the last thing is...
[00:30:01.100]I read a lot of like personal growth,
[00:30:03.200]personal motivation so this is kind of my...
[00:30:05.367]But you can only control what you think,
[00:30:07.740]and then you can control what you do.
[00:30:09.920]There's a lot of things that happen in our lives,
[00:30:12.195]that you have no control over.
[00:30:14.835]I had no control over when I came to college,
[00:30:16.987]I grew up in a single parent home,
[00:30:19.530]I had no control over how much finances
[00:30:22.930]were coming in the house now that I left.
[00:30:26.427]'Cause I was able to help during high school,
[00:30:29.140]but I couldn't control that right?
[00:30:31.410]So I'm like what can I do?
[00:30:32.960]What can I control now?
[00:30:34.110]I can control going to class.
[00:30:36.190]I can control managing my finances, asking for help,
[00:30:41.410]and I can think that,
[00:30:43.098]you know what I'm doing all this,
[00:30:45.600]because one day I'm gonna be able to provide,
[00:30:47.490]I'm gonna be able to help out.
[00:30:50.530]Once you get that figured out,
[00:30:52.760]because there's gonna be things
[00:30:55.227]that pull you away from classes,
[00:30:56.467]that pull you away from what you gotta do,
[00:30:57.300]once you figure that out like, okay.
[00:31:01.165]There were times that my mom would call me,
[00:31:03.230]and she'd be like, "Yeah, you know
[00:31:04.947]"I can't make money for rent,"
[00:31:06.547]and I had like two cents in my bank account.
[00:31:08.030]And so I felt really guilty at times,
[00:31:10.180]but I'm like I can't control that.
[00:31:12.616]Unless I'm making money some other way, right?
[00:31:15.203](laughing)
[00:31:18.793]There's no way, I can't control that.
[00:31:20.085]So I'm like you know what,
[00:31:21.180]for today I need to go to class,
[00:31:22.760]I need to do well on this exam,
[00:31:24.555]because in the future I don't want my mom
[00:31:27.650]to think that about me type of thing.
[00:31:30.376]So focus on your study skills, time management,
[00:31:34.015]find your fit, find your people,
[00:31:37.576]and then a lot accept that identity.
[00:31:40.790]There's only so much you can control,
[00:31:43.630]focus on what you control not what you can't.
[00:31:46.390]My other thing too, which I...
[00:31:50.715]Sorry I feel like I'm rambling now.
[00:31:52.467](laughing)
[00:31:53.425]You have these conversations with yourself right?
[00:31:54.258]You're probably having them right now.
[00:31:55.873]Like you know, oh I need to this, oh da da da da.
[00:31:57.790]You're always talking to yourself.
[00:32:00.084]When you're talking to yourself
[00:32:02.140]if it's more negative than positive,
[00:32:04.594]you probably need to work on that, right?
[00:32:06.620]For example, if you're like,
[00:32:08.927]"Man, you're stupid you can do well in
[00:32:10.870]that class," and blah blah blah.
[00:32:12.270]That's not gonna help you.
[00:32:13.630]So you need to be like, "All right man, all right Moi.
[00:32:15.047]"That didn't go the way you thought it was gonna go.
[00:32:18.456]"What can you do?"
[00:32:19.990]Right, who do I need to go to?
[00:32:21.774]Who do I need to talk to?
[00:32:23.427]Because I've got what it takes,
[00:32:26.290]it's not like I'm dumb or anything.
[00:32:27.816]I just didn't probably put enough
[00:32:29.656]effort into it or time into it.
[00:32:31.667]There's a lot of things
[00:32:34.513]that go into being a successful college student,
[00:32:36.797]and just successful in general.
[00:32:39.230]Having people who can remind you of those things,
[00:32:42.765]'cause you probably already know that.
[00:32:45.710]If a friend comes to you asking for advice,
[00:32:47.920]you can give really good advice,
[00:32:49.990]but you don't give yourself that advice sometimes,
[00:32:53.430]so just being that you're not having
[00:32:55.930]those people to remind you like,
[00:32:58.885]"Hey so, I need you to take it a little better."
[00:33:01.653]And also remembering that some things we can't control,
[00:33:07.504]exactly like what you were saying.
[00:33:09.080]So I'm in my master's program.
[00:33:12.104]I was really proud of myself,
[00:33:13.393]I've never had straight A's ever, ever.
[00:33:17.770]And I had like a 98% in all my classes.
[00:33:20.600]So I was all excited.
[00:33:22.115]I missed a response to a question,
[00:33:27.020]because I was still adjusting to this whole portals,
[00:33:30.084]and all this stuff that you guys have now
[00:33:31.915]that we didn't use to have.
[00:33:34.030]I missed a response,
[00:33:35.725]and it was only like one point,
[00:33:40.333]but that one point took me down to an 89%
[00:33:42.605]and I was so upset.
[00:33:44.000]I was crying.
[00:33:46.452]But I couldn't control it right?
[00:33:47.544]It happened, I talked to the instructor like,
[00:33:49.264]it's not that I'm just blowing this off.
[00:33:51.280]I missed it.
[00:33:53.725]So I think acknowledging too, that stuff happens,
[00:33:57.377]and in our communities we have losses.
[00:34:01.205]I remember coming home
[00:34:02.440]and seeing my little brother's shoes,
[00:34:04.570]and the bottoms of the soles of their shoes
[00:34:06.724]were completely worn down.
[00:34:09.340]And I used my financial aid money
[00:34:11.200]to buy them shoes, and socks,
[00:34:12.810]and underwear, and t-shirts.
[00:34:15.291]I remember doing that very vividly.
[00:34:18.050]I remember coming home
[00:34:19.020]and combing the nits out of my sister's hair,
[00:34:23.723]my little sisters.
[00:34:26.640]But I couldn't take them with me,
[00:34:29.445]all I could do was come home
[00:34:31.610]and say, "You can have something different.
[00:34:34.485]Your life can be different,"
[00:34:35.318]and I had to show them that.
[00:34:36.583]I couldn't just say it.
[00:34:39.740]I couldn't just tell them that,
[00:34:40.900]I had to show them that.
[00:34:42.755]And their journeys are their own,
[00:34:44.970]but I showed them that it could be
[00:34:48.090]at least something different if they chose to do that.
[00:34:50.550]And it's the same with my kids.
[00:34:51.870]Like I was saying earlier,
[00:34:53.840]I thought my son was gonna go to engineering school,
[00:34:56.035]and he was gonna be this Biomedical Engineer.
[00:34:57.610]This is what we had talked about since he was five,
[00:35:00.110]and he decided he wanted to go play football
[00:35:02.045]at a community college,
[00:35:03.795]and not go straight into engineering.
[00:35:07.470]So that's his choice.
[00:35:09.340]I can't do anything about that,
[00:35:11.160]but I can support him in whatever his dreams are,
[00:35:13.637]and his journey.
[00:35:14.537]And we all aren't supposed to have the same journey either.
[00:35:17.285]Whatever journey you're on right now,
[00:35:19.413]whatever you've gone through
[00:35:21.450]to get you where you're at,
[00:35:22.653]is exactly how it was supposed to be.
[00:35:25.840]But don't give up,
[00:35:28.344]and you're all so young.
[00:35:29.350]I feel like I'm young enough for it too.
[00:35:31.013](snapping)
[00:35:32.639]You feel like, you're like yes,
[00:35:34.270](laughing) that's what she said.
[00:35:35.761]But you still have every opportunity
[00:35:36.594]to do whatever you want.
[00:35:37.830]My supervisor is a VP,
[00:35:39.924]she's a VP at the institution,
[00:35:43.800]and we were talking about going on to school,
[00:35:46.860]and I plan on getting my PhD also, right?
[00:35:50.800]So I'm working, having a life, raising kids,
[00:35:53.830]and I want a PhD.
[00:35:56.414]It's something I've always wanted.
[00:35:57.462]I love teaching and I love students.
[00:36:00.913]She told me, "I didn't get my PhD until I was 50."
[00:36:06.002]She's like, "I didn't go back for it until I was 50."
[00:36:08.193]I was like, "Really?"
[00:36:09.244]I would have never known that,
[00:36:10.330]and so that inspired me too.
[00:36:12.280]I was like hey, I can do this even if I'm older.
[00:36:14.564]You don't have to have this system
[00:36:19.930]of if you don't do it perfectly according
[00:36:22.722]to these rules and this way being that it can't work.
[00:36:26.580]And even for those that are in trades,
[00:36:28.930]and going into trades.
[00:36:29.900]That is valuable.
[00:36:31.240]We need people in trades.
[00:36:32.480]We need carpenters, we need welders,
[00:36:33.574]we need all of those skills too.
[00:36:36.142]So everyone, wherever your journey is,
[00:36:38.164]your path is exactly the way it's supposed to be.
[00:36:51.932]So there's a couple different ways.
[00:36:54.277]If you call the office of Admissions,
[00:36:57.398]what they do right now, they can set you up
[00:36:59.270]with a tour and all that stuff.
[00:37:03.220]If you want a VIP individualized tour,
[00:37:05.530]just let me know, I got you.
[00:37:07.029](laughing)
[00:37:08.370]Seriously.
[00:37:09.630]I use to work in the Admissions office too,
[00:37:11.770]and so I think it's important to still do that tour,
[00:37:15.010]but I think many times those tours don't cover...
[00:37:19.370]My office that's my tour,
[00:37:21.809]I don't know how it is at...
[00:37:22.642]So I want you to know more about,
[00:37:24.740]like if you were to come to me right now,
[00:37:27.070]I want you to know where my office is.
[00:37:29.529]That way the first we can, even now,
[00:37:34.310]we connect, I set you up.
[00:37:36.260]We have seminars that
[00:37:38.660]it's basically zero credit which means it's free,
[00:37:42.530]and the main purpose of the seminar
[00:37:45.900]is to help you transition to the university.
[00:37:48.420]I will enroll you in that.
[00:37:50.110]I will give you a peer mentor.
[00:37:51.087]I will give you a staff member, like myself.
[00:37:54.609]Then you'll know of our programs,
[00:37:59.310]and keep it for the students
[00:38:02.477]and I can talk to you more about that
[00:38:04.080]during your campus visits.
[00:38:05.500]So I'm the only Padilla,
[00:38:07.570]I think there's another Padilla on campus actually.
[00:38:09.100]I take that back.
[00:38:11.010]But in your program thingy is my info,
[00:38:13.809]just contact me and I'll make sure you're set.
[00:38:17.560]One of my students that I was mentoring,
[00:38:19.577]the student is a Padilla. Oh really?
[00:38:20.488]Yeah.
[00:38:22.128]So everything that Moi just said is exactly true.
[00:38:26.450]If you're wanting to do a campus visit,
[00:38:28.840]find the Multicultural Office,
[00:38:31.619]or find the Native Student Services Office on that campus.
[00:38:34.010]And also, at NICC I have a really big feeling,
[00:38:36.733]that if you guys talked to some people at NICC
[00:38:39.547]they would bring you down in a group visit.
[00:38:42.250]So if you wanted to specifically do it
[00:38:44.685]with the intention of an admissions visit,
[00:38:47.644]NICC, you could work with Moi
[00:38:49.823]and you could develop that
[00:38:51.250]so it's catered to you and your needs.
[00:38:53.810]It's not like this general visit where we go,
[00:38:55.725]and those are good too,
[00:38:58.677]but you've already been here,
[00:38:59.750]you already have an idea.
[00:39:01.020]And this would be a much more.
[00:39:03.835]In depth.
[00:39:05.250]In depth.
[00:39:07.077]More personalized and I don't know
[00:39:08.815]what you wanna study,
[00:39:10.877]but I can connect you with people in that college,
[00:39:13.677]or in that nature is important too.
[00:39:16.576]Connecting with the cultural center is important,
[00:39:20.520]but also connecting with your academic college is important,
[00:39:24.157]because they control your degree.
[00:39:26.976]You can't major in diversity and multicultural affairs.
[00:39:30.256]Well, you might able to.
[00:39:32.496]I don't get degrees.
[00:39:36.576](laughing)
[00:39:37.884]I'm trying to say.
[00:39:39.088]Also, knowing that faculty members are not scary.
[00:39:42.840]Yeah they're smart.
[00:39:43.980]Yes they went off and they got their PhD,
[00:39:45.780]and they've been successful and done amazing things.
[00:39:48.020]And that's awesome, but that doesn't make them
[00:39:51.020]like, ahh, you know in this place where
[00:39:53.920]they're better than everybody else.
[00:39:55.720]They're regular people and they care about you,
[00:39:57.990]and you see that here.
[00:39:59.017]You have faculty members here that genuinely care,
[00:40:03.120]and that's why they're doing this work.
[00:40:04.424]To be really honest, a lot of us at institutions
[00:40:09.970]are constantly fighting to serve our students.
[00:40:12.680]We're constantly fighting for funding.
[00:40:14.640]We're constantly fighting for the services that we need
[00:40:18.510]to take care of our students
[00:40:19.730]the way that we know they need to be cared for.
[00:40:21.770]And so we go through our own battles,
[00:40:23.536]and we do that because we believe in you.
[00:40:26.960]A lot of people in this room,
[00:40:28.117]I know they go through their own battles
[00:40:29.688]to even put on a program like this.
[00:40:31.496]Just feeling that you are valued,
[00:40:34.056]the faculty are not scary,
[00:40:36.437]they're there to support you.
[00:40:38.370]This is their career that they've chosen, to teach.
[00:40:41.483]And just embracing that
[00:40:44.500]and making those relationships with people.
[00:40:46.136]No one is better than anyone.
[00:40:49.506]It doesn't matter how many degrees they have,
[00:40:52.157]they're not better than anyone.
[00:40:54.690]Summer programs are
[00:40:56.397]really important too. Oh Absolutely.
[00:40:57.530]I used to run the,
[00:40:59.340]it was a needed summer program at the University of Iowa
[00:41:02.133]for high school students.
[00:41:03.620]And so we brought them in
[00:41:05.130]and they stayed, and it was free.
[00:41:07.013]They stayed in the dorms,
[00:41:07.980]they ate at the resident halls,
[00:41:09.032]they got tours, like you did at the sports facilities.
[00:41:12.563]We took them to the nursing simulation lab.
[00:41:15.660]They got to see all this cool science technology stuff
[00:41:18.260]that was offered at the institution.
[00:41:20.392]And we talked about, kinda similar
[00:41:22.970]to what we talked about today.
[00:41:23.990]How can science play a role in your community?
[00:41:27.022]How can you help people by better knowing this information?
[00:41:31.822]I think that's really important
[00:41:33.780]to take advantage of summer programs,
[00:41:35.262]and also improve youth in your communities too.
[00:41:37.090]If you have a little brother or sister,
[00:41:40.822]that you encourage them,
[00:41:42.502]because that's hard to go across the state for a week.
[00:41:46.542]My daughter went to USC for a summer camp this year.
[00:41:50.010]It was a three-day camp, I was across the campus,
[00:41:52.272]and she was like, "Mom, will you come get me."
[00:41:55.393]I'm like, "No. You need to experience this.
[00:41:58.397]"You need to go through this."
[00:41:59.760]So she did and we Face Timed every night,
[00:42:01.700]but she still stayed.
[00:42:03.360]She made friends and one of the little girls
[00:42:04.750]she's still friends with,
[00:42:06.030]and this was a year ago, so they still hang out.
[00:42:08.294]Those friendships and relationships
[00:42:10.603]all add up to (child speaking drowns out speaker).
[00:42:26.727]And sometimes its hard to say,
[00:42:29.277]"Yeah, this is for me too."
[00:42:31.582]Many times you feel like,
[00:42:33.512]"Oh you know,
[00:42:35.207]"I don't wanna seem like I need everything."
[00:42:38.843]Or you're very humble maybe,
[00:42:41.170]and you're like, "No, I'll be okay,"
[00:42:42.990]but no, take advantage.
[00:42:44.280]For example, tutoring, it's free.
[00:42:48.900]There's some services you pay for
[00:42:50.620]and if you're not using them,
[00:42:52.340]it's like you're just giving away that money.
[00:42:54.901]It's very generous of you,
[00:42:57.243]but take advantage of everything that's on that campus.
[00:43:03.010]Including people's time because it's my job to do that.
[00:43:07.283]I get paid to work with y'all.
[00:43:10.610]It's not like I'm doing you a favor, type of thing.
[00:43:18.651]I just have to go
[00:43:19.484]off the tutoring thing.
[00:43:21.072]What I found as an instructor,
[00:43:25.010]while the students are reluctant to ask questions,
[00:43:27.240]because they think that if they ask a question
[00:43:29.440]that makes them appear dull.
[00:43:33.150]But that's false, because if you have a question
[00:43:37.340]somebody else, probably two or three other people
[00:43:39.750]in the class have the same question.
[00:43:42.379]You just have more courage to ask it.
[00:43:46.320]So you're like being a leader in asking questions,
[00:43:49.170]and stuff like that.
[00:43:50.010]So yeah, it's important,
[00:43:52.760]and tutoring services might kinda the same way.
[00:43:55.440]Maybe you just are embarrassed to go to a tutor,
[00:43:58.970]because you think that that reflects poorly on you,
[00:44:01.360]but it just means that you're taking the initiative
[00:44:03.880]to take control.
[00:44:06.451]So I just wanted to add that.
[00:44:08.900]Something you said too, in terms of humility.
[00:44:13.570]I've never viewed humility in this way.
[00:44:17.291]I have someone that I consider
[00:44:19.473]that I'm very close to.
[00:44:20.720]She's kinda like a mom to me, in Sioux City.
[00:44:23.161]And she had come back,
[00:44:25.330]I had three young children at home,
[00:44:27.553]this is while I was in college.
[00:44:30.001]I was really struggling to get to practices,
[00:44:32.670]to do everything,
[00:44:33.570]but I wanted to (audio cuts out)
[00:44:35.251]and I was taking care of everybody.
[00:44:36.923]And it's just like my dad would say,
[00:44:40.597]"Suck it up and do it, and get it done."
[00:44:42.451]So I did, and one day she asked me,
[00:44:44.937]"Why don't you ask for help?"
[00:44:47.747]I was like, "Well I'll be okay.
[00:44:48.877]"I can figure it out, I can do it."
[00:44:50.731]She said, "You need humble up."
[00:44:53.169]That's exactly what she said.
[00:44:54.889]And I'm like, well I know humbling,
[00:44:56.171]but the way I think about it like,
[00:44:57.811]"I am being humble."
[00:44:58.644]I said, "Well that's not a very kind thing to say,
[00:45:00.662]"to being humble."
[00:45:03.102]What she meant is,
[00:45:04.750]you can't acknowledge that you need help.
[00:45:07.643]And she said, that's not healthy
[00:45:10.410]and that's not humility.
[00:45:12.140]And I was like,
[00:45:13.410]And I had to think about that,
[00:45:14.350]so for days, that was going through my head.
[00:45:16.300]I'd be driving and I'm like,
[00:45:17.841]"Why do I have a problem asking for help?"
[00:45:20.930]And then I kind of went back,
[00:45:22.290]and that's been something that
[00:45:23.730]I think has been with me for a long time.
[00:45:25.427]'Cause I'm always scared that if I said I needed help
[00:45:29.123]that I was vulnerable,
[00:45:31.410]and I didn't know something.
[00:45:34.230]And I didn't want to open myself up to be vulnerable.
[00:45:38.010]And there's nothing wrong with being vulnerable.
[00:45:40.280]I've had to learn that through my journey
[00:45:43.003]that we're all vulnerable at different times.
[00:45:45.180]But if you can acknowledge that
[00:45:46.910]and ask for help.
[00:45:48.310]Say, "Hey, can you help me pick her up from daycare?"
[00:45:51.373]Or, "Could you help?"
[00:45:52.702]That's not a bad thing, right?
[00:45:56.272]But that was something that I'd never thought of
[00:45:57.820]humility and vulnerability being at odds like that.
[00:46:01.230]So asking for help is not a bad thing.
[00:46:03.640]It is a good thing.
[00:46:04.603]It shows your strength.
[00:46:05.694]It shows your acknowledgement of self
[00:46:07.882]and your ability to see that.
[00:46:25.760]Yeah, so I think that students don't think about that
[00:46:29.890]when you're like, all right, I'm going to go to college.
[00:46:33.080]I was going to own my own hardware store
[00:46:35.411]when I came to UNL.
[00:46:36.451]That was my goal.
[00:46:38.479]I worked at a hardware store,
[00:46:39.891]and I wanted to be my own boss.
[00:46:42.430]Be my own business person.
[00:46:47.382]But I think many times we don't know what's out there.
[00:46:49.510]And you don't know of all the options.
[00:46:51.590]So I didn't know I could work at a university.
[00:46:54.740]Like coming into college, I had no clue.
[00:46:58.000]I knew what a college professor was,
[00:47:02.502]but I never saw myself like that.
[00:47:04.222]Like a college professor type person.
[00:47:07.199]And so, I didn't know you could be a staff
[00:47:08.343]at a university.
[00:47:09.470]And so once I figured that out
[00:47:12.980]and I'm like, "Oh, you can work with students
[00:47:14.680]"and advise them and coach them."
[00:47:17.320]That completely changed my trajectory.
[00:47:21.320]And I've seen it happen.
[00:47:22.830]Many students want to help others
[00:47:24.900]and so they go into the health professions.
[00:47:26.860]Everybody, maybe they're thinking about
[00:47:29.050]becoming doctors or nurses,
[00:47:31.360]and then they take organic chemistry
[00:47:33.040]and they're like, "I hate this stuff."
[00:47:35.500]Like, "I don't want to do this.
[00:47:36.837]"This is terrible."
[00:47:38.420]There's other ways you can help people
[00:47:40.140]if that's what you want to do.
[00:47:42.400]Can we have, for example, child, youth, and family studies.
[00:47:45.420]You can work with after school programs,
[00:47:47.680]where you're helping people, you can become a social worker,
[00:47:51.290]I mean there's so many paths.
[00:47:53.930]It's figuring out what do you value,
[00:47:56.931]and then how do you get to work at what you enjoy doing?
[00:48:02.850]And so I think at UNL the average is about five times
[00:48:08.253]that a student changes their major.
[00:48:10.230]It's a lot, and there's just a lot of options.
[00:48:16.870]And then once you get into a field,
[00:48:17.703]then where do you want to specify?
[00:48:18.670]Or what do you want to specialize in that field?
[00:48:21.950]So once I'm kinda like, "Okay, I want to work
[00:48:23.470]at a university as a staff member."
[00:48:25.182]Where do you want to work?
[00:48:27.020]And I'm like, oh my goodness.
[00:48:28.250]Well I can work at financial aid,
[00:48:29.520]I can work in admissions,
[00:48:30.640]I can work at Multicultural Affairs.
[00:48:32.989]So then you have to make another decision,
[00:48:35.040]so you just have to figure out
[00:48:37.070]just make those decisions as you go.
[00:48:40.407]And sometimes you're not gonna know for sure
[00:48:42.610]if it's gonna work out,
[00:48:43.590]but I think if you look at it
[00:48:46.880]like, what do I want to do next?
[00:48:50.320]Instead of what do I want to do for the rest of my life?
[00:48:52.460]Because sometimes that's intimidating.
[00:48:54.150]Trying to figure out what the heck
[00:48:55.180]you're going to do for the rest of your life.
[00:48:56.790]I don't know what I want to do when I grow up.
[00:48:58.563]And I'm 32 years old.
[00:49:00.068](laughs)
[00:49:01.062]So it's just what do you want to do next?
[00:49:04.490]Right now, I want to work with students.
[00:49:06.680]And I want to be an advisor to them.
[00:49:08.862]10 years from now, who knows what I'll be doing.
[00:49:13.290]Yeah, I think when we're little, right?
[00:49:15.190]When we're young, people are like,
[00:49:16.310]"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
[00:49:17.449]You could be a doctor, you could be a lawyer,
[00:49:18.580]you can be a teacher, and then you think
[00:49:20.270]that you have to pick this thing
[00:49:21.670]and you have to be that, right?
[00:49:24.070]And so my best friend would tell the story.
[00:49:27.760]In high school we'd be at parties
[00:49:29.030]and everyone else was talking
[00:49:31.210]about what type of jeans they had on or whatever,
[00:49:33.807]and I'm talking about current events and politics.
[00:49:36.840]It's just always been in my nature,
[00:49:39.300]and people would call me square,
[00:49:40.690]say what a nerd I am, and I suppose I'm a nerd.
[00:49:43.011]But I own that now.
[00:49:44.571]So I was always interested in politics.
[00:49:48.050]When I went to the university,
[00:49:49.730]I was going to be a poli-sci major.
[00:49:52.090]I was going to get my law degree.
[00:49:53.790]I was going to go work in DC like my dad told me to
[00:49:55.680]and save the world.
[00:49:58.400]That's what I was going to do.
[00:50:00.760]That was my thought.
[00:50:01.650]And I got to school and I took poli-sci classes,
[00:50:04.120]and I was with these kids
[00:50:06.371]who's parents were probably major donors to institutions.
[00:50:11.520]That they were doing poli-sci,
[00:50:12.930]they were in the capital doing this and that.
[00:50:14.520]And I was like, this is no.
[00:50:16.900]I don't want to do this.
[00:50:18.910]So I chose a major that was called American Studies.
[00:50:21.010]And American Studies encompasses a lot of different things.
[00:50:24.000]I knew I wanted to study and learn more
[00:50:27.167]about our Federal Aid policies,
[00:50:29.190]the laws, how they affected our communities,
[00:50:31.360]how they affected our people.
[00:50:32.545]And so I minored in American Indian studies.
[00:50:35.290]And it focused on resistance movements.
[00:50:37.600]So I had to write kind of like a thesis to graduate.
[00:50:42.537]And my thesis was on Maroon Colonies.
[00:50:44.480]So how our ancestors in different parts of the Americas
[00:50:48.817]formed alliances with different groups
[00:50:50.673]and fought off colonization.
[00:50:53.388]Militarily fought of colonization.
[00:50:55.185]So I focused on something else.
[00:50:57.103]But I was like, oh my gosh, no one ever taught me
[00:51:00.380]this stuff in high school.
[00:51:01.351]I never learned in history class
[00:51:03.000]that the Seminoles aligned themselves with the Swans
[00:51:04.596]and literally dropped out of trees,
[00:51:07.000]and that's where the whole thought
[00:51:08.036]of guerilla warfare came from was the Seminoles.
[00:51:11.760]I had no idea they fought off the Spanish,
[00:51:13.540]the English, the French, and the Americans.
[00:51:16.120]Like, no body told me that.
[00:51:17.185]So, that's kind of where I was going towards
[00:51:20.137]a history major, a history background.
[00:51:23.697]And then I ended up doing Admissions.
[00:51:26.310]I ended up doing work in Multicultural Affairs as well.
[00:51:31.170]Because I just love education.
[00:51:33.210]I love students and being able to help
[00:51:35.616]them get an education.
[00:51:37.695]But then now, fast forward, what I'm studying
[00:51:41.370]is traditional governances, political systems
[00:51:45.756]within Indian country, and so it incorporates
[00:51:46.710]federal policy.
[00:51:47.543]It incorporates law.
[00:51:48.730]It incorporates treaty rights.
[00:51:50.660]It incorporates all these things
[00:51:52.170]that I was so interested in
[00:51:53.490]and takes it into the Admissions building.
[00:51:56.490]And then there's other people that think like that too.
[00:51:58.820]That's what I found out.
[00:51:59.657]The University of Arizona has a whole program
[00:52:01.316]dedicated to this work.
[00:52:02.777]Harvard has a whole program dedicated to it.
[00:52:05.350]So I got to meet these other people
[00:52:07.330]that are doing this awesome work
[00:52:11.250]and have been for a long time.
[00:52:12.367]And I realized I'm not totally crazy.
[00:52:15.145]So, that was my path.
[00:52:18.007]I had no idea that this was where I was going to be.
[00:52:19.784]And five years ago even, I wouldn't have thought
[00:52:22.330]that I am where I am right now.
[00:52:24.487]I would never 10 years ago had thought
[00:52:27.190]I ever would have owned it.
[00:52:29.580]So I just think that, like you said,
[00:52:31.500]in the moment.
[00:52:32.333]This is what I want to do right now, in this moment.
[00:52:35.370]And this is how I want to help my community.
[00:52:38.470]This is how I want to help my family in this moment.
[00:52:41.810]And then what the future brings, we'll see.
[00:52:44.180]It depends on the networking that you do,
[00:52:46.607]the people you meet,
[00:52:47.825]And the people that inspire you, right?
[00:52:52.537]Look for those people that inspire you
[00:52:55.620]and own that, I guess.

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nebraska transportation center
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2018 MATC Scholars Program: Native Student Groups and Your Success Panel

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