With fall in full swing we take a moment to reflect on some highlights from this summer’s admission workshops!
#CHDartmouth
(Students hold up their small group numbers)
A few highlights from College Horizons at Dartmouth College:
- 100 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students attended our program
- Over 40 partner college reps, high school counselors and organizations served as expert faculty at the program
- Staff and interns arrived early to prepare for the program; Dartmouth’s admission office accommodated the crew for setup
- Faculty arrived a day early in preparation for students
- Some students traveling from Hawaii, Alaska and some west coast communities arrived a day early to adjust for the time zone changes
- Students were present for a total for six days to Dartmouth’s campus in Hanover, New Hampshire
- For many of our students, this was the first time riding on a plane and for an even larger number their first visit to New England
- Dartmouth College was a terrific host – we had great dorms, awesome food and beautiful surroundings
- The diversity of the students was at an all-time high (state, regional, tribal, gender)
- Students connected with one another and with faculty both within small groups and as a larger community
- Paul Iona (Native Hawaiian), a 3rd year student of Chapman University’s MFA Program in Film and CH Alumnus, was at the program volunteering his time to film promotional content for us – a new video will soon be released!
- Kevin Patterson (Navajo) and Maggie Seawright (Lakota), both current Dartmouth undergraduates and CH Alumni, served as interns at the program and worked tirelessly to ensure the program’s success
- A CH alumna and long serving faculty of the program, Dr. Adrienne Keene, was honored for completing her Ed.D program at Harvard University. Adrienne’s doctoral research highlights the higher ed experiences of Native students of the College Horizons program! She first attended CH at Dartmouth back in 2002 so it was a full circle experience for our program.
- Traditional night was a meaningful and fun event with many students sharing everything from regalia to dances and protocol from their traditions and homelands
- Students were exhausted by the end of the program having fulfilled all of our program requirements (college essay revisions, Common Application drafts, researching a list of 10 schools to apply to, trivial pursuit questions from our partner institutions, FAFSA forms, scholarship searches, etc.)
- HUGE storms coincided with the end of the program and about 15 students were stranded overnight with many more delays at both Manchester and Boston Airports. After an adventurous evening, staff and faculty successfully saw that all students got out on flights the following day.
#GHCornell
A few highlights from Graduate Horizons at Cornell University (make sure to watch the video above!):
- 45 participants representing a diversity of Native nations attended GH at Cornell
- 5 cohorts oversaw the mentorship of participants whose intended career paths span fields within the fields of Arts & Humanities, STEM, Health Sciences, Education, Law, Business and Public Policy
- 30+ faculty representing a variety of graduate and professional programs enthusiastically provided expert feedback and counseling to program participants
- Workshop participants absorbed loads of information over the 4 days of intensive graduate and professional preparation
- Cornell University, the Office of Academic Diversity Inititiatives (OADI), the American Indian Program (AIP) and Conference Services served as amazing hosts and every detail was covered!
- Dr. Jolene Rickard, Professor and Director of the American Indian Program at Cornell University grounded us at the beginning of our program with concepts of Haudenosaunee sovereignty
- Haudenosaunee dancers and cultural group welcomed faculty and participants with a social dance demonstration and white pine exhibition
- Videographers hired by Cornell created the great video above, featuring Graduate Horizons!
(Participants pose for a group photo before the Professional Networking Reception)