When I was young, I remember being awe-inspired by large structures and how things so massive could stay standing. Then on the Navajo Reservation, where I have lots of family, I would see collapsing houses and imperfect roads. That’s when I realized civil engineering could be a way to positively impact my community and the world around me, using my math skills to improve the lives of fellow Natives. 

In my first year at McGill University in Montreal, I found a home and community around the long table in the university’s four-story, red stone First Peoples’ House. The house serves as a residence and gathering space for Indigenous students, and by the time I completed my first year of university, the Wednesday soup and bannock lunches were part of my routine. It was a good way to get to know other Indigenous students on campus, and it has helped me to build that Indigenous community. 

Cherokee, N.C., is known for one thing: Harrah’s Casino. As a young girl growing up in its shadow, I knew that a career tied to Harrah’s wasn’t in my future. Instead, my interests lay in finance and art. But it wasn’t until I attended Arizona State University that I under-
stood how to combine the two. Now, as an MBA candidate at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, I’m well on my way to realizing my dreams by combining my financial skills with my love of art.

Does any of this sound familiar? You worry about meeting expectations and you credit “luck” for your accomplishments? What about feeling that other people are overestimating you, along with a secret fear that people will find out you’re not as capable as they think? If you have thoughts and feelings like that, you may be dealing with “impostor syndrome.” Also known as impostor phenomenon, it’s a nagging inner voice whispering that you don’t deserve your achievements — that you don’t really belong.

You made it through school, you landed that job, and you are working your heart out. But there’s that nagging feeling — the whisper inside saying you don’t really belong or deserve your success.  

If you are a first-generation college student — or will be soon — your world is about to expand in a number of ways. According to the Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development, approximately 50 percent of today’s college students are in proud, but uncharted, territory as the first in their family to attend a four-year college or university. Whether you’re getting ready to attend school on campus or online, it’s a big deal.

When Sandra Begay was an 11-year-old attending boarding school, she knew she wanted a career in engineering. It wasn’t that she was taking an engineering course in elementary school, but rather it was when she realized there was a problem that could be solved. 

One of Frances Dupris’ fondest childhood memories is having chicken pox. No, it wasn’t because the illness was fun. Rather, what she remembers with such nostalgia is that having chicken pox meant that she got to spend an extended period of time with her grandmother, Louise Eagle Tail Quick Bear, and great-grandmother, Rebecca Quick Bear, who took care of her while she was sick.

When Laura Smith-Velazquez was eight years old, her parents got her a telescope. The dark sky over Dorr, Mich., made for the perfect laboratory for Smith-Velazquez, an especially curious child. “I was fascinated with the sky,” she recalls. “It was so beautiful and I had so many questions.” 

Though she didn’t know it at the time, Dr. Serra Hoagland’s upbringing put her on a path to becoming the only Native woman with a PhD to work for the U.S. Forest Service. Growing up in Placerville, Calif., a small town west of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Dr. Hoagland just knew that she wanted to be outdoors. “My biggest thing was to finish my homework and go outside — that was my goal for the day,” recalls Dr. Hoagland, this year’s winner of the Most Promising Engineer or Scientist Award.