Rene Begay is living her dream of improving the health of Native communities, but the college experience that launched her career wasn’t always a well-lit journey. Before Begay earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Arizona, her master’s in clinical science from University of Colorado, and her master’s in public health as a Bloomberg Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, she was a freshman finding her way on the University of Arizona campus. “I struggled my first year,” she recalls. “Even though I was strong and independent, there was real culture shock. I overloaded myself with credits, and I missed home.”
Confronting Culture Shock
Her experience was not unusual. “Native students are going to a place where people have different practices, different foods, different lifestyles, and different languages,” says Jacob Moore, vice president and special adviser to the president for American Indian Affairs at Arizona State University (ASU). “Culture shock — also referred to as cultural incongruity — is a common experience for Native American students, particularly for those who come from rural tribal communities and raised in strong Indigenous cultural settings. It can be a major hurdle to college success.”
Begay overcame that hurdle by “digging deep” to rely on her internal compass and the many lessons from her grandmother, aunts, and uncles who were part of her single mother’s hometown support network. She also learned to accept help in new ways by seeking out tutors and showing up for professors’ office hours. “I realized I had to build my own resource system to manage the challenges and stress,” she says. “There wasn’t a ready-made support network for me at the time.”
The stress that Begay and so many others experience is a threat to academic persistence, or success at staying in school. Whether education is online or in person, challenges intensifying that stress — such as feelings of isolation or being treated differently — can be more pronounced for Native students. “Stories of how Native American students thrive when learning takes place in contexts that are aligned with their cultures and communities are abundant,” notes Anne Porterfield, senior proram associate and author of a research summary on the topic for WestEd. “Yet these contexts are not the experience of most Native American students.”
Help Is on the Way
Here’s the good news: Indigenous college students now stand on the shoulders of people like Begay, who charted their own course to meaningful academic accomplishments. Colleges have made advances, such as ASU’s INSPIRE readiness program, and research is guiding additional improvements. “There is a concerning potential to lose Native identity when away from one’s cultural community,” asserts Sharon Nelson-Barber, WestEd senior program director for Culture and Language in Education. “Schools have begun to understand that students need support to sustain their cultural roots.”
Some campuses have AISES College Chapters, Native American student centers, and offices of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Multicultural Affairs that connect Indigenous students with networking and resources, including academic advisors, tutors, and study groups. Be sure to make the most of these campus resources.
Champion Yourself
As more and more educational institutions do their part to better serve Indigenous communities, there’s also actionable guidance from our experts for students taking charge of their academic futures. Here are some tips for fortifying your own college persistence.
Find your balance. Even at schools doing their best to be more inclusive, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for supporting Native American students. Routine can be hard to find in the sometimes-awkward college mix of taking classes, studying, meeting people, and figuring out when to eat and sleep. Whether you decide you’re a morning person, a night owl, or something in between, lean into your strengths to develop life and study habits that make you a better student and more well-rounded person. Focus on what you need to stay engaged and make progress.
Stay tuned to your own compass. “Cultural maxims of respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility, among others, are ingrained early in the socialization of Indigenous children,” says Nelson-Barber, of Rappahannock Indian and African American descent. That well-developed “inner compass,” as Begay describes it, was key to her college experience as she pivoted from a tough freshman year to academic success and degrees in a field she loves. Whether you’re determined to succeed one course at a time or to earn your degree in a certain number of years, your approach and your goals are up to you.
Pace yourself (like you mean it). A college diploma earned in five, six, or more years is just as valuable as a degree earned on a four-year track. It’s OK if you need to reduce your course load or take a break for personal, family, or financial reasons. In fact, recent research has documented the practice of students “stopping out” — versus dropping out. These students leave school temporarily with a plan to return when the timing is right for them. Part of your job as a college student is to set a cadence that makes big-picture sense for you, your life, and your priorities.
Reach out. Connect with people at college as well as loved ones at home. Folks who’ve known you forever can remind you why you’re strong and smart enough to do this, and groups on campus can offer support. While it may not always be easy, keep talking with people near and far who believe in you.
Reflect, adjust as needed — and keep going. “As I say to students I mentor, adjusting is not failing,” says Begay. Whether you’re reconsidering your major, how many classes to take, or how you study, it’s never a bad idea to take stock and reassess. A central aspect of persistence is the power of reflection. “Making adjustments is a show of strength, not weakness,” emphasizes Begay. “Self-care — whether it’s how you eat, sleep, or pray — is essential, and the rest flows from there. The learning you do in college is about more than academics; it’s grounded in what we learn about ourselves along the way.”
Today Rene Begay is an Indigenous geneticist and public health researcher at the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health at the University of Colorado. Just as she hoped to do back when she was an undergraduate struggling to find her way, Begay is now working to improve the health and well-being of Native communities. “I see my role as a natural extension of my background growing up on the Navajo Reservation,” she says. “I’m focusing on genomics research and how my work can impact Indigenous communities.” Begay’s inner compass helped her reach her goal, just as the background you bring to the college experience will help you stay grounded, access your core strengths, and find a circle of support.
