OKMULGEE – This year, the College of the Muscogee Nation hosted the annual Oklahoma Native American Students in Higher Education (ONASHE) regional conference on Feb. 13 and 14. The conference brought together tribal college students from across Oklahoma.
The goal of the ONASHE conference is to strengthen Native student communities by building connections they can use later within their own communities/institutions, hopefully breaking down barriers between campuses.
According to CMN, the organization’s impact can be seen in the stories shared by students and professionals: “Many describe how participation at ONASHE helped students feel more confident in their higher education journeys, reminding them they were not alone and that they had support systems extending beyond their own college campuses.”
CMN Research Specialist and Chair of the planning committee for the National Conference, Sadie Littlecreek (Absentee Shawnee/Mvskoke), has highlighted what she hopes this will bring for the Native students.
“For these students, I’m hoping to show more about community efforts, getting your higher education learning, and then bringing back that work to your community. That’s the kind of centralized goal of what we’re doing at the college in comparison to other institutions,” Littlecreek said.
Around 110 students attended this conference, representing a wide range of colleges. According to Littlecreek, students came from Oklahoma State University, East Central University, and Tulsa Community College.
On Feb. 13, they had a half-day banquet at the Tulsa River Spirit Casino, and their keynote speaker was Clinical Psychologist at Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Dr. Evan White (Absentee Shawnee). White’s known for helping improve mental health within the Native communities; his research focused on psychological approaches to mood and anxiety disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health.
On Feb. 14, it was their full conference day at CMN; they had roundtables, workshops, and institutions sharing their work and projects. In the afternoon, they were handing out ONASHE awards, and later CMN highlighted its CMN Extension Program and its Master Apprentice Program for the Mvskoke language.
Since 2008, when the ONASHE conferences began, the organization has seen growth and impact, shared by Native students and professionals across Oklahoma.
A University of Oklahoma college student, Graycianne Bennett (Cherokee), is a first-generation college student, and this was her first year attending the ONASHE conference. She spoke to Mvskoke Media about her experience.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for the Oklahoma native students to gather and to get to know one another across the state and across the different institutions,” Bennett said. “It can be really isolating whenever you’re in an echo chamber at your own institution, and so to be able to open up the doors at the other places and especially at a tribal college in a time like this in Oklahoma, I think it’s important to be able to gather together.”
Bennett enjoyed meeting everybody, seeing new and familiar faces, and hearing different perspectives on what is going on at their college.
Bennett knows that her college is well-known in Oklahoma and that they’re overwhelmed by what is going on there; however, she said it was good to know that other places are working just as hard and working alongside each other to reach the same goal.
“I’m really thankful for the opportunity to be educated and to have access to all education. I’m a first-generation student, and so a lot of people in my community don’t get to go to college,” Bennett said.
Littlecreek has enjoyed hearing about all the new, exciting work that everyone has done, whether it’s at an undergraduate, four-year, or two-year institution, to people getting their master’s and doctorates, all the way to faculty/staff who are involved in moving things forward.
“It’s really exciting to get to see all these people showcasing what Native success looks like on a grand scale. Oklahoma has this rich culture among all these 39 tribes, and we all get to come together and just kind of share that,” Littlecreek said.
