OVERCOMING
OBSTACLES How one MSUM student defied all odds to graduate
Cera Swiftwater graduated from MSUM in December and delivered the student commencement address, talking how she has channeled MSUM’s main cores of grit, humility and heart to help overcome her adversities.
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Words by Nate Gilbraith, MSUM Marketing Intern Photography by David Arntson, MSUM Marketing & Communications
HE HIGH DROPOUT RATE OF AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS IS NOT NEWS. According to the
National Indian Education Association, the national dropout rate for American Indian students is 15 percent. However, Minnesota State University of Moorhead criminal justice graduate Cera Swiftwater refused to be a statistic. Swiftwater was raised by her 17-year-old single mother on the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation. When Swiftwater was 15, she and her four brothers and sisters were placed in foster care. During her time in the foster care system, Swiftwater moved from school to school multiple times, but she stayed focused and remained on track to graduate high school. “My siblings have struggled a lot through
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school and I asked myself, ‘What can I do to help them?’ On the reservations sometimes you don’t have that mentor,” Swiftwater said. “I thought I can be that person they can look up to.” By graduating from high school she defied yet another statistic. Based off a 2012 report published by the U.S. Department of Education, South Dakota has one of the lowest American Indian graduation rates in the nation of 49 percent. Out of her graduating class of 12, she was the only one to attend college. “When I first came here (MSUM), I stayed to myself a lot and I didn’t leave my dorm much,” she said. It wasn’t until Swiftwater got involved with MSUM’s American Indian Student Association (AISA) that she started to enjoy her
college experience. As AISA president, she realized that many American Indian students were struggling to embrace the college experience, just as she had. “I wanted an organization that made Native American students feel comfortable. They come to college and they feel like they don’t have any support.” After initiating weekly meetings, study groups and even the occasional movie night, Swiftwater increased membership and led AISA to receive the award for Best Diversity Program on campus. She also excelled academically. “She’s one of those fantastic students that teachers can learn more from than they can ever hope to teach her,” said Professor Kate Richardson Jens. “She’s very bright, very