Right place, right time? For Roylene Comes At Night, a decision to compete in NAISEF (the National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair sponsored by AISES) came at just the right time.
In high school she ran cross country. “I thought it was the only way for me to get a college scholarship,” she says. Then an opportunity for Comes At Night to compete off the track came from her high school science teacher, who suggested NAISEF. In addition to scholarships, NAISEF grand prize winners have an expenses-paid opportunity to present their project at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), competing with students from more than 70 countries.
As it turned out, the week Comes At Night was to compete in NAISEF was the same week as the divisional track meet, the qualifying run for the state competition. She was at a crossroads: track event or science fair? She decided on NAISEF and became the first Indigenous young woman to represent AISES at ISEF. She also earned scholarships in her junior and senior years at the Montana Science Fair and was the valedictorian of her high school class.
After an injury had Comes At Night struggling to run again, AISES and NAISEF provided a different path to college funding. “If I hadn’t joined AISES, I wouldn’t have known about NAISEF, and I probably wouldn’t have had the funds to go to college,” she says. She ultimately received a full four-year ride to Montana State University (MSU), where she was active in the AISES College Chapter and helped lobby for alcohol-free AISES events. “We worked hard,” she says. The year after she graduated with a BS in range management and a minor in soil science, MSU was named Chapter of the Year.
Comes At Night grew up on a ranch that has been in the family for six generations on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. When her dad decided to make some conservation improvements, he learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offered assistance for producers. “I spent a summer home from college installing 13 miles of barbed wire fencing,” says Comes At Night. “NRCS funding helped make that possible.”
Back at college, she visited the state NRCS office and entered the elevator with a man who turned out to be the state conservationist. “He introduced me to the staff” she recalls.” I met with his deputy and was hired.”
Today, Comes At Night is the country’s longest-serving state conservationist at the NRCS. She has worked for the agency for 35 years and, in her current role, oversees staffing, promotes partnerships with tribal leaders and others, and manages the technical and financial operations for NRCS in the state of Washington.
Known as the “Dean of State Conservationists” for her willingness to mentor others, Comes At Night credits much of her success to those who mentored her. She includes her parents, the late Roy and Cynthia Doore, who also had careers in science; her secondary science teachers; and MSU professors Cliff Montagne and Max Amberson, who encouraged her to stand up for herself when she was treated differently.
Comes At Night was also influenced by role models like Wilma Mankiller and Mary Golda Ross. “A remarkable trait of these women is the way they could advocate for something without being militant.” She explains. “I have tried to emulate their approach to challenging situations.”
A principal reason her career with the NRCS has been fulfilling for Comes At Night is its neat fit with tribal cultural principles of making a difference, helping others, soliciting feedback, and valuing its employees and Mother Earth. “The agency is all about helping people help the land,” she explains. “We help people of all colors and from various tribes. We are about preserving families and strengthening communities.”
Although she is nearing eligibility for retirement, Comes At Night has no plans to leave. “There are times I think about retiring, but then I meet farming families, some who are multigenerational,” she says. “I see how we can help them stay in business, and I say, ‘I’m not ready to retire yet!’”
