During her sophomore year of high school, Makenzie Little had a life-changing opportunity to write for her town paper — it was love at first word. Since then, her interest in journalism has grown, and she is focused on honing her skills and expanding her journalistic experiences in high school and beyond. The next step may well be majoring in journalism or communications in college.

Dr. Thomas Reed has approached his education, career, and commitment to the Indigenous STEM community with enthusiasm and dedication. Dr. Reed, Hopi, has firsthand familiarity with the financial challenges many Indigenous families face in both reservation and urban settings. “After all the needs were met, we didn’t have much left growing up,” he recalls. “I saw family members and friends who were engineers working for decades at Boeing, near where I grew up in Seattle.

Discovering AISES during his first month at university not only helped Matthieu Lavallée find a community – it launched new possibilities. He chose to study chemical engineering far from home at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, well-known for its engineering program and co-op work placements.

For Stephen Silva-Brave, education is tied to community. A citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, Silva-Brave credits his current path to his Grandmother Eleanor Brave. She was raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation but moved to Dallas as a young woman through the BIA Urban Relocation Program. She then split her time between Texas and South Dakota, and her grandson continued this tradition, visiting relatives on the Rosebud Reservation throughout his life.

Silva-Brave pursued his education in Texas but found his purpose through his Native

Keeya Wiki’s first name — a Yurok word tied to rising — serves as both a vision for her future and a reflection of her path. A senior at Ashland High School in Oregon, Wiki already navigates the world of international diplomacy with the poise of a seasoned advocate. Beyond just maintaining an inherited connection to the lands and waters of her Yurok and Māori ancestors, she embodies that connection as a foundational responsibility — the grounding factor of her identity.