McKalee Steen, University of California, Berkeley
McKalee Steen, a member of the Cherokee Nation, is a second year PhD student at University of California, Berkeley, in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management department. She has been a member of AISES since middle school, and is currently serving as the U.S. Senior National Student Representative for AISES.
How can students make an informed decision about whether to reveal their own perspective in the classroom or through campus groups?
It can be really challenging to exist in academic spaces that were not built for Native people, and there may be many times when you are the only Native person in your classroom or certain campus groups. Throughout my experience as a student, I often felt a lot of weight on my shoulders to not only represent my individual experience as a Cherokee woman, but also to represent Indian Country as a whole. I think it's important to realize that this is unrealistic!
READ MORE
