GETTING AMERICAN INDIANS TO COLLEGE: How one organization is getting the next generation of American Indians into STEM.

• Author: Foreman, Kelsie

Not many American Indian students finish high school and go on to receive a college education. According to a recent survey from nativepartnership.org, only 17 percent of American Indian students go on to continue their education after high school, compared to 60 percent of white students.

The dramatic disparities in graduation rates between native and non-native students is said to be the result of inadequate funding and resources for the native students living in rural areas of the country. However, RJ Munoa, a Pechanga tribe leader from Temecula, California, also mentions that the lack of college-educated students could be a result of the culture on some American Indian reservations.

"In [some American Indian tribal cultures], going to college is not really a positive thing," says Muno when I asked him about the way college education is perceived. "[So when you come back to the reservation] people don't trust your philosophies because now you've been 'indoctrinated' by the system. It takes a lot to actually go to college [and then come back] and have your community respect you enough to want to listen to what you have to say."

WHY COLLEGE EDUCATION IS SO IMPORTANT TO AMERICAN INDIANS

Stephenie Vincenti, community leader and Zuni tribe member living in Gallup, New Mexico, thinks otherwise. According to Vincenti, earning a college education is the only way that her three children will be able to make a positive influence in the world--both on the reservation and off it.

"Although we have our tradition, our religion, and our culture, we still have to enhance ourselves in order to compete against the rest of the world," and she says American Indian students can best do that by going to college.

"As a school board member, my ideal makeup of a student would be one who is strong in their language and culture but can still be [educated and successful] in the dominant anglo society," she says. "Their culture, their language, and their heritage only make [these students] stronger and wiser in order to compete in the English society."

Vincenti's mother was only a teenager when she found out that she was pregnant. However, despite a sooner-than-anticipated pregnancy, she and her boyfriend defied all odds by graduating high school and then going on to complete their college educations. They knew that doing so was the only way they could truly give back to their community.

Life wasn't easy for the family. "Both [of my parents] attended Fort Lewis...