On Indigenous People's Day, we honor the rich cultures, traditions, and contributions of Indigenous communities. Today, we are also proud to highlight our amazing scholar Stevie, whose dedication and hard work inspire us all.
Stevie L. is a Senior at Silas Highschool. She hopes to attend NYU for Fashion/Marketing.
What inspired you to pursue higher education?
Pursuing higher education was always a part of my plan. I believe Coming from a broken family that never continued their education or allowed themselves to reach their goals opened a bigger perspective for me. It made me question why there was only a few options of living and how come there was no strive to do more. Thankfully, I was introduced to dreaming big at an early age and never was restricted of my potential for what I wanted to be when I grew up, whether that was the next Disney Channel Star or a Teacher, America's next top model, or even as daring enough to tell people a 'Jedi from Star Wars. I've always dreamed big and getting the opportunity to take one step further in college, alongside the help of Palmers, means a lot more to me than words could explain.
How has your Indigenous identity shaped your experiences in education and your approach to learning?
Being raised in an Indigenous home, by indigenous women was the ultimate start of my story. Living in Tacoma, it never crossed my mind how far my reservation was from the city because we were there so often. I'm proud to say I grew up involved on my rez and have learned my tribe's culture in the purest, most natural ways. It took me a very long time to understand that other people's "normal" isn't going to powwow's, eating fried bread and Indian Mac, and watching your aunties and uncles play stick game. When it came to the point in my schooling years where identity was a big deal, I always felt like I stood out. However, I've never felt ashamed of my Indigenous roots because there was so much to be grateful for from my culture that most people don't get.
What does Indigenous Peoples’ Day mean to you?
To me, Indigenous Peoples' Day represents so much. The history of my family, my tribe, my reservation, our story- though we get to live that every day, October 14th is a day we get to share and honor that whole-heartedly with people who haven't got to see that side of the story. It's different from what they teach in the history books, it's different from the "feathers and war paint" everyone else thinks of when they think of "native people," and it's surely different from the stories that we, as native kids, were told. My Qene (grandma in plains Salish) taught me, in one of the many deep conversations we had, was the importance of the word "Peoples'." She expressed that it the word 'connected us together, it recognized us as a whole and not just as the overlooked minorities that ran the land before the history books were made.' It stuck with me ever since and I think of that day and conversation every Indigenous Peoples' Day.
What advice would you give to other Indigenous students who are pursuing higher education?
If there's one thing, I could advise to any indigenous students who want to pursue higher education, I'd say- Dream big. We're not our parents, our broken families, our generational trauma, or the generalized stereotypes that we get to confront as "Natives." We are rooted from the deepest and truest grounds of our indigenous peoples', and it's only right that we get the same opportunities and chances like everyone else to do more and do better with our lives than stay inside the reservation lines. Rez Kids can do it too, the world just hasn't seen what we all have and especially hasn't tasted our fried bread. Aho.
LemLemts and thank you, Palmers- for allowing this native girl to dream big.
-Stevie Jade
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