Student stories from Lumina Foundation's Focus Magazine

FOREWORD

Native students prove that broken treaties could not break the people

The story of Native Americans in higher education— like the larger story of Indigenous peoples—is a complex and often-troubling one, fraught with mistrust and steeped in injustice.

FROM THE LATEST ISSUE

Students at Diné College find relevance on the rez

Triston Black had the world at his feet. As a senior at Navajo Preparatory School in Farmington, New Mexico, scholarships and enrollment incentives were pouring in from across the country as colleges and universities were hoping to recruit him.

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FROM THE LATEST ISSUE

Menominee equips warriors for the fight to save the Earth

Jasmine Neosh had arrived at an inflection point. In the fall of 2016, the Menominee tribal member was waiting tables and tending bar at an upscale Chicago eatery as the protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline grew into a full-blown crisis in the northern Plains.

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FROM THE LATEST ISSUE

Alaska-born Native scholar works to reorient research

In the early 2010s, Lisa Dirks was visiting her relatives in Alaska when she noticed an article in the Aleut Corporation newsletter on their dining room table: an item that looked like a research article. As a scholar, researcher, and tribal member, she was curious about its contents, so she picked it up and began reading.

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Honoring a sacred trust for those who came before us

Editor’s note: For this issue of Focus, Lumina relied on an experienced team of Native American journalists led by award-winning writer and producer Suzette Brewer, a member of the Cherokee Nation. This is her take on the project: its challenges,

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The nation’s Indigenous peoples—infinitely varied in their cultures and scattered all across the continent— have at least one thing in common: Essentially, they’re forgotten. Overlooked. Invisible. Whether they live on a faraway reservation, along a suburban street, or in the high-rise condo unit next door, we non-Natives don’t see them. Not really.

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At Lake Area Tech, instructors do more than teach.

Troy Breitag, supervisor of the Med/Fire Rescue program at Lake Area Tech, runs his students through accident scenarios. Having served 24 years as a firefighter and paramedic for Watertown Fire Rescue, Breitag is well positioned to offer practical career advice. Read more: At this South Dakota college, advising and teaching go hand in hand.