Tribal Nations Tour shares message of higher education The ASU Tribal Nations Tour visits Leupp Elementary School
ASU traveled to tribal communities and schools in northeastern Arizona during the second week of August, 2012 to encourage youth to consider higher education. Led by the President’s Office of American Indian Initiatives, current ASU students and staff provided outreach, academic guidance and college preparation tips to American Indian students, families and communities. The initiative was funded by a College Access Grant from the Arizona Governor’s Office, and sought to bring information about higher education to tribal communities throughout Arizona. As a result, ASU’s Tribal Nation’s Tour (TNT) traveled to 22 schools in 17 Arizona Indian tribal communities, including the Tohono O’odham Nation, Hopi Tribe, Cocopah Nation, Gila River Indian Community, Yavapai-Apache Nation, White Mountain Apache Tribe and other tribal nations. Through these visits, TNT reached more than 2,400 elementary and high school students, and more than 380 parents and school personnel.
TNT recruits current ASU students to travel to some of Arizona’s rural Indian tribal communities to share their experiences through personal stories, skits and a variety of activities to encourage young people to go to college. Many of these ASU students come from the very communities that the TNT visits. “I go out on TNT trips to encourage students," said ASU junior Diedra Vasquez (Navajo/Tohono O’odham), an active TNT participant. "But the tours also helped me realize that we need to support the youth. Many are our brothers and sisters, and we need to work to get them here – to higher education.” ASU has one of the highest American Indian/Native American student populations in the nation. In 2011-2012, more than 1,300 American Indian students were enrolled at ASU, a number that ranks third in the country among all universities with very high research activity. ASU also is a leading university in the country for awarding graduate degrees to American Indian students, ranking 8th in total master’s degrees awarded in all disciplines. ■
ters, and we need to work to get n.”
- Diedra Vasquez, ASU Junior
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