I wanted to uh finish out and this uh talk on the meaning of self
determination. I use the example of basketball success to the city and
other schools throughout the Navajo. And then I also use the success uh of
the spelling bee
contestant from Chin lee public school person that went all the way to the
national uh
contest in Washington D. C. and I want to add the 3rd 1 and which is that
we are now beginning to see more and more Navajo students come into
colleges and university and I'll use what has happened here at A. S. U.
Just as an example, a shining example of what could be. And that is that
in 19 1995
96 when I enrolled here at A. S. U. We had something like 672 Native
American students and the president of the university, Larry Corey was
telling me that we're stuck at that number. We could never go higher than
that. We did everything we can under the sun to try to recruit more people.
But we're just failing or doing something wrong and we can't seem to add
any more to. And he just gave me the instruction that, let that be your
concern. I can't tell you how you should resolve that. But but let that be
your concern worry about it and see how we can improve. Well. I got
involved in recruitment and using completely different models, different
tactics, different ways of recruiting and going to these high schools on
the Navajo nation, getting on the radio and saying things publicly in the
newspaper and then actually going into the classroom to talk to the
students, those made a big difference. And then on occasion, I would get
on the radio to talk to the Navajo parents about how important education
is as a result of all of that. After something like 10 years later, we now
have approximately, mhm 15:00,
Native American students at the 10, ASU, that's almost tripling. What was
the situation in the case Back in the 1995, year? And uh, and I believe
that we're not going to stop there. We're going to keep on going, we're
gonna keep on recruiting more native American students. And my personal
goal is to get to 2000 And uh, and once we get to 2000, that's still not
going to be enough. And so someone has to uh continue doing what we
started here. And I see a lot of young Navajo people that are going to
school the recent graduate, the issue that are kind of following suit, uh
, that I'm working with that are fully committed to this. Uh and uh, those
, those young people, they really make me happy because I know at some
point I'm going to be uh, perhaps uh things start thinking about
retirement and it's good to look back and see that these young people are
really, really serious about continuation of uh getting more native
american students more Navajo students to come into these colleges
University. And my prejudices, not only to ASU. I always told people that
any university whether it's N. A. U. U. Of a community college BYU and
Utah Oklahoma. You I see it doesn't matter uh as long as they get the
experience and that's what we're looking for. So that was something that
is also I think in line with these self determination movement exhibited
by the indian students and more particularly the neighborhood students.
And the second point I wanted to make under that is this where when I came
on campus the retention rate of native american students were so low. And
I remember the president telling me that For every 100 students we get one
year, The following year we lose 1/2 We only have 50%,, About 50%
retention rate. And he was saying that on a bad year we lose 60
of the students that that we gained the year prior. And so that that's a
big concern. And so then uh not necessarily using any new monies uh but
just uh reprogramming some of the existing staff here at a. S. U. We began
uh a native american achievement program and uh and then started uh
working with students in a different way providing a different attitude
and then doing a lot of work not with so much with the students but with
our faculty with our staff and professors in having them understand the
american indian students here. And that added tremendously to the
retention rate of the american indian students and then with a native
american achievement program, getting more mentors and getting more help
indian american indian graduate student happened. The undergraduate, those
kinds of activities are of necessity in having your program succeed in
terms of retaining your indian students or that they end up receiving
their degree and graduating uh huh With in many cases with honors. And
then they are very, very happy to Come back to their reservation to help
out their own people. And so uh on some years during the last 10 years We
got the retention rate all the way up to 78% from 50%. So that's a huge
increase. Unfortunately that 78 goes up and down Some year. We may have
70%. Some years we may go back down to 68, but then some years it goes
back up to 77 and so and we're trying to evaluate a program and what we do
from year to year and why that why that uh numbers goes up and down and at
some point will come up with an answer. And the last thing, the third
thing that I wanted to say under this uh scenario and under this project
is this, I believe it was in 1990,
1996 or 1997
Or it may even have been in 1998
and I'll come back with more specific numbers on this point. But the point
was that we asked for all those Navajo students who made
3.00 or above. Uh During that year after we put the native american
achievement program uh into practice the year that it was starting are a
number of Navajo students that were doing very well. was somewhere in the
20s. It may have it may even be below 20 that was making Above 3.00 Grade
Point Average. And somewhere alone 2003 we asked for the same number from
the department that deals with those issues here on campus. And they gave
us a An increase of American Indian students who are making 3.00 and above.
And that number that they gave us 144.
So that's a tremendous increase. That means that the american indian
students that are on campus here by and large we're doing very very well.
And uh 140 for I don't know how much it represents in terms of the
percentage of increase uh students that are doing better. But just looking
at that number 144 that's a that's a tremendous progress for the american
indian students. And when I look at when I look at these three points
working here at a. S. U. The future just looks bright and if we can Do
that for the next 10 years. uh the real progress is going to start
happening an american indian reservation here throughout, throughout the
southwest and more particularly the neighborhood because we have so many
neighborhoods students that come to this institution and when I look at
and talk with the faculty and staff at U. Of A. And and there you
essentially they may not be that high in numbers but they're also
experiencing the same thing. So
this whole thing about self determination about having your local schools
back and your home community on your reservation and having the indian
people come back into those classroom as teachers as model teachers as a
mentor enroll model. Those seems to be working very, very well. And by
having people that all of a sudden prop up with uh let's say championship
basketball team from Ganado high school or from Monument valley or window
rock high or tuba city high and how the students are, look at that and
they mirror themselves in those kinds of accomplishments and lately by
what guarantee as he was able to do and many of these students that I
talked to, even what happened opinion students are really, really thinking
to themselves. No, well if that person can do that, I'm pretty sure that I
can do likewise, but only in other matters and other fields. And so I see
those bright eyes every time I go into a classroom and I always think to
myself, my God these are the students that are so smart, there are going
to go back to those Navajo Nation, They're going to be more equipped,
fully equipped than I ever was. And and when I went back to the, to the
Navajo nation, I wasn't, I wasn't fully prepared, I was not ready. I
didn't have the ammunition that they now have. And so these kids that are
going back onto the reservation or even that are going to be here in the
city, they're, they're fully equipped and they're going to have a
wonderful life. And as a grandfather that really encourages me and it's an
inspiration and uh, you know, energy that I looked towards from, from day
to day, uh, coming from the young people and that's what really makes my
job interesting and you just wanted to do more. It's the inspiration that
I get from the young people,
very good,
who else?