Graduates

It has been a pleasure—and a privilege—to chair Native American Studies while you have been at Dartmouth. Every year, just before the blanketing ceremony, the chair of NAS presents a certificate to each of our majors and minors. This would have been my fifteenth year doing that and I will miss congratulating you in person. So much these days is virtual, but your degree, the work you have done in NAS, and your capacity to change, and maybe save, the world are all real. All of us in NAS look forward to hearing from and about you, and we extend our warmest wishes to you as you move on. 

-Colin G. Calloway

 

I am originally from Sitka, Alaska and I am Tlingit. My clan is Ganaxteidi and I am a child of the Kaagwaantaan clan. My Tlingit name is Aandaxjoon. I am a Native American Studies major with a minor in geography. During my senior year at Dartmouth I conducted research at the Hood Museum pertaining to the Tlingit collections held there and how to better represent them in the museum archives. My senior honors thesis explores catastrophe throughout Tlingit history and the ways in which Tlingit ceremonial practices of resilience might be applied to emerging catastrophes such as those brought on by resources extraction. I will attend the University of Chicago in the fall, where I will pursue my PhD in anthropology. 

I am a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe in northern Wisconsin, and in my time at Dartmouth I pursued a major in Native American Studies with specific interests in language revitalization and education. After graduating this June, I am moving to Phoenix, Arizona as a Teach for America corps member where I will be teaching 7/8th grade English Language Arts and beginning a master's in education at Arizona State University. My long-term goals are to return home to further learn and teach the Ojibwe language. I am so grateful to the NAS faculty and staff for all they have taught me and the continual support throughout these past four years. Miigwech, Elsa

I knew when I came to Dartmouth that I wanted to be a Native American Studies Major. I hope to pursue Native American Studies/Indigenous Studies accompanied with the discipline of Sociology or Law School. During my time at Dartmouth, I was able to attend the Domestic Study Program in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an experience I value greatly. This past winter I completed an Independent Study with Professor Nick Reo on the incarceration of Indigenous women in Oklahoma. My time with the department and its faculty has been invaluable to me, and I'm so grateful for their commitment and dedication to students. I wish with all my heart that I could say thank you in person. 

At Dartmouth, I've been historian of Native Americans at Dartmouth, intern of Native American Art at the Hood Museum, associate at Novack Cafe, intern at the Thayer School of Engineering working with solar energy, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, assistant at the Donald Claflin Jewelry Studio, and editorial member of the In Your Face! Zine. I am majoring in Native American Studies and Anthropology with a minor in Environmental Studies. I am writing a senior capstone thesis for the Anthropology Department about coal mining on the Navajo Nation. I'm Navajo and from Coppermine, AZ but live in Phoenix, AZ. Next year I'll be working at the School of Advanced Research Indian Arts Research Center as an Anne Ray Intern in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Onaleece Colegrove is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe from Hoopa, California. She is the daughter of Kevin and Toni Colegrove and granddaughter of Mary Ann Colegrove and Melissa Morton. Onaleece will be receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Native American studies and a minor in psychology from Dartmouth College. Onaleece was a co-president of Native Americans at Dartmouth, president of Alpha Pi Omega sorority, a Dartmouth Admissions Access Ambassador, and a member of the Nathan Smith pre-medical society. She has received the honor to be chosen as a National Indian Health Board Fellow, Rodney T. Mathews Jr. Memorial Scholarship Recipient, Jack Montoya Memorial Scholarship Recipient, and Miss Na:tini-xwe' 2017-2018. Additionally, Onaleece was a keynote speaker for Dartmouth's Indigenous Fly-in Program 2018; advocated for legislation to address the issue of violence against Native American women, including Savanna's Act, on Capitol Hill; presented at the 2019 UNITY conference; and has worked at K'ima:w Medical Center during her breaks at home. Onaleece will be starting a new position as Assistant Director of Admissions, Native American Coordinator at UC Berkeley. She would like to give a special thanks to her friends and family for supporting her along the way.

I made a decision four years ago to attend a school that I had never even seen and knew very little about except that it was far from my home in Arizona and had a prominent Native American community. Little did I know that four years later I would be able to call Dartmouth my home away from home. I am so grateful to have had this beautiful opportunity to be a part of this place that has helped me grow so much as a student, a woman, a friend, and so on. I aspire to be a part of the change and the growth within our Native communities. Ahéhee!

Dago'tee! I am a member of the Yavapai-Apache Nation located in Arizona. I am passionate about equity in education, environmental justice, and advocating for mental and emotional well-being. These interests motivated me to pursue a double major in Native American Studies and Environmental Studies. The intersections I've explored in Native American studies and environmental studies point to the importance of taking holistic approaches to understand the relationship that community health has to our surrounding environments. With this foundation, I hope to pursue a career in tribal law!

Tribal affiliation: Cherokee. Double major: Environmental Earth Sciences and Native American Studies. I am interested in planetary sciences, and am completing an honors thesis for Earth Sciences on the investigation of Martian paleoclimate using quantitative geomorphology. I am going to CalTech in the fall to begin a Ph.D. in Geology to continue to answer questions about planetary evolution, climate change over geologic timescales, and habitability on other planets. I am a proud mother of an energetic and smart four-year-old daughter, who has attended classes with me, been by my side through many Zoom meetings, and reminded me to have fun and engage my curiosity. In my (practically nonexistent) free time, I play Dungeons and Dragons and a Star-Trek-esque rpg, and also love reading in the sunshine whenever I can.

My name is Selena Neptune-Bear and I am Penobscot and Maliseet from the Penobscot Indian Reservation in Maine. I am a Native American Studies major modified with Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies and have been lucky enough to participate in a variety of research around the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women. I am so grateful to the Native American Program for funding my internship opportunities. I hope to expand upon these experiences after Dartmouth by pursuing a federal Indian law degree to better advocate for native women and Indian country as a whole.

My name is Breanna Longtoe Sheehan, and I am a member of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe of Vermont. I am a double major in Anthropology and Native American Studies, and before the unexpected events of the spring term, I was pursing a thesis on Abenaki history and identity in Vermont which I will be finishing as an independent study. I am so thankful for all the knowledge and support I have been given by those in the Native American Studies department. My life would not be the same without those I have met through the department and Indigenous community on campus!

大家好! I am humbled to be recognized as an 'honorary member' of NAD, yet everyone around knows me just as good ol' 'Nick Woo', or Nicholas 轩怀 Woo 胡 to my Chinese family. I was born and raised in both Bellevue and Seattle, Washington along Lake Washington. My family, however, hails from southern China on the banks of Toisan, Guangdong Province as well as on the islands of Hong Kong. My Cantonese home and culture has shaped a lot of who I am, including my own identity living in-between many worlds, and my desire to bring people of different backgrounds together for lasting constructive change--and to have a little (lots of) laughter in the process.  Over the last year, I have been conducting my senior thesis in NAS on the intimate unions between Chinese and Native American workers across the 19th Century West. I have also spent time at the University of Washington under Tami Hohn (Puyallup) learning to speak and write in Southern Lushootseed (dxʷləšúcid) to better understand not just the indigenous language of my birthplace, but also everything from Coast Salish culture to relationship with the environment. After graduating this June, I plan to continue engaging in early field work with local communities to get out the non-traditional and progressive vote in county, state, and presidential elections come November 2020. I am still devoted to learning and decolonizing my worldview ever more each day, hopefully even pursuing an advanced degree in law or public affairs in the future. One day I would love to engage in meaningful work on behalf of either tribal or U.S. governments to more veraciously uphold treaty rights and better cultivate collaborative relations between the many sovereign nations here on Turtle Island and beyond. With more time at home, I am most grateful for the ability to care for and spend an inordinate amount of time with my adorable grandma and grandpa. I am also immensely indebted to everyone in the NAS faculty for not only seeing potential in me, but also for putting up with me over my Dartmouth career. I will miss all of you in NAD dearly. Each and every one of you will always hold a special place in my heart…held-in-trust! I'm just kidding. In perpetuity. Until we next meet again, 再見!