I hope to build a relationship with myself strong enough to support whatever I go through. What I mean by this- is that I want to be so self-assured of who I am and what I know that when something or someone tries to shake my confidence, I won't be afraid to speak up for myself. I recently put myself into a leadership role while attending my current college that I am enrolled at. As of now, I am currently serving as my school's student government treasurer and will continue to do so until next spring. I've been in the roles of a leader before, but not quite like this before, and it's been a challenge to say the least. I have three other officers who are meant to do their own jobs that their titles entail, but yet, we have struggled as a team, and as leaders who are meant to be the voices of the students for our school. I think there has to be some things that are missing in order for me to be a great leader, and an even better team member to those that I work with now and to those in the future. I want to be able to make in impact for natural resource and water management when I finish school and I finally choose to go back home to Montana. In order to get to that part though, I'll need to be able to build my leadership skills and self assurance of what I am capable of while performing those skills. I will continue to build these skills as I follow through with my education being away from home. A big part of finding who I am and working on towards being a better person for myself is having to be away from home to experience things outside of my comfort zone. One thing I've noticed so far in my college journey is that I love finding a challenge in something so I can feel more accomplished afterwards. Having those challenges has given me drive when finding my way as a leader, and I hope to continue utilizing those challenges to my advantage as time continues forward so that I may build that unshakeable relationship with myself.

As a indigenous person who has found comfort in the alternative scene, it has helped me to be outgoing, self-confident, and someone who won't back down easily. Before I had even considered myself to be alt, I was still judged by my looks, simply because I was native. I learned to love my features more by being able to have my piercings and dyed hair. I learned that no matter how you look, people will still find ways to judge you- so I say let them judge as I live my life how I want to look. It's how I feel most comfortable and am happily able to present myself in a confident manner. This past year I joined part of student government at my school, so I'm also in a leader position- which means I am to be dressed and seen in a more business casual manner. A steady journey that I have taken to gain more experience and a learning curve in some areas. I've learned over time to tell when someone is skeptical of you from just their tone of language alone, this was something I witnessed especially while I went to the AIHEC Legislative Summit Conference with my team in Washington, D.C. It was my first time in such a big setting while advocating for the students and my school, but I held my ground and spoke for those that weren't able to. Having my piercings and dyed hair allows me to catch people's attention fairly easily, and I'm learning to use this to my advantage when it comes to addressing crowds of people. I think when it comes to me wanting to do my conservation work you need to be able to grab people's attention so that they listen, even if it's just for a moment. This was especially true for me when I went to that conference in D.C. Much experience was had and made during that trip, and I know now that I can advocate for both myself and others with better ease at mind. I wish to continue advocating for conservation work and land management as I further my STEM journey while being in school. I want to be able to speak to any group of people and show the people that no matter how you look, you can accomplish so much more than what people think of you before they know you. I have always loved and appreciated the outdoors, and I always knew I would follow some kind of STEM future for myself but being alternative has really given me a place to step into myself and be who I really am while achieving that goal. And I couldn't be more thankful for that.

For me personally, I have always been ingrained in my traditions in one way or another. One memory I can recall the most is when I was still in grade school. I frequently got sick while I was in elementary school so it wasn't out of the ordinary for me to be at home. This time however, was closer to summer than any of the previous times I had gotten sick at least during that year. For a little background information, I was told many times growing up from my parents that they had been in a hide tanning class around the time my mother was pregnant with me. Learning from a blind woman with one of the last classes she taught while she was alive. They have many good memories of her, especially ones recounting times where she would call out other students in a humorous manner who would sign in and later leave. She might not have been able to see, but her senses of hearing and touch were much better without her lack of sight. So she would listen to see who and who wasn't there whenever she asked for the sign in sheet at the end. During the closer months of spring whenever I got sick, I would help my dad with numerous hides that my family would be working on for their artwork. It's one of my more cherished memories growing up as it helped me be closer to my traditional side. Although some of the hides were harder to work on depending on what kind animal we got it from (deer or elk), the hides afterwards were always worth the effort that was put into them. The smell of them alone I consider to be aroma-therapy for myself, that's how comforting I find being around the presence of one. These hide projects take effort, care, and time, as well as a community that wants to see the most pristine of outcomes that emerge from these tanning projects. The effort is always worth it in the end, with a soft, smoke-smelling, beautifully tanned hide to show for everyone's efforts. This is why I find it so important to see the value in learning our traditions along with our modern day learning curriculum. I can see the importance in upholding our oral story telling so that we may continue to learn from our modern day people as we walk an always changing world now. Being able to be connected like that to my culture in that way has allowed me to be confident and comfortable within myself when it comes to teaching others about who I am and where I come from. Having that special connection allows me to help others step into accepting their own culture/s whenever they have those questions that they want to find answers for. To be able to help your community, you have to be willing to do things that sometimes other people don't or can't do. When it comes to me, I want to help keep my people informed and make sure that we all succeed, even if we can only do certain things. Because in the end, it's the final product that really shows everyone's effort.