Barrett student Jennifer Jones honors her heritage, encourages others as Miss Indian ASU

August 26, 2016

Jennifer Jones has an inspirational message that is summed up in one word.

Yéego. It’s a word in the Navajo language that, loosely translated, means diligence and hard work. Jennifer Jones, a junior honors student majoring in mechanical engineering and 2016 Miss Indian ASU. Download Full Image

“To me it means follow you dreams, go for it,” said Jones, a junior in Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University majoring in mechanical engineering.

Jones wove the meaning of yéego into her platform when she won the title of Miss Indian ASU in April.

In addition to developing a platform, the Miss Indian ASU pageant required contestants to write an essay and participate in competitions in evening wear, spirit, school pride, and talent.

“My platform was yéego and the importance of pursuing education for Native American youth and providing encouragement in that direction,” Jones said.

“I have been privileged to have people backing me up and pushing me to pursue my education. I want to bring that king of support to others who may not have it,” she said.

In addition, she aims to be a be a role model and a goodwill ambassador for ASU, represent all Native American students at the university, speak out on issues affecting native youth and bring a face to them.

Jones is carrying her message as she appears on behalf of ASU, including at the Tribal Nation Tour with the ASU American Indian Initiatives Office over the summer.

In June, as part of the tour, she traveled with some ASU athletes to the Grand Canyon for a three-day trip to visit a school serving grades kindergarten through seventh grade in the Supai Village on the Havasupai Reservation.

Her journey started in Peach Springs, where she met Miss Hualapai, Jewel Honga, who shared information about her culture and provided gifts for the Supai Village students.

The eight-mile hike to Supai Village began at the Havasupai Hilltop trailhead, a remote location that portends the adventurous trek down into the canyon.

“This was my first time hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, so I was excited and scared,” Jones said. It took about three hours for Jones to make it to Supai Village. Once everyone in her party arrived and got settled, their first order of business was to perform community service by cleaning out a school storage room and organizing materials for teachers.

Athletes in the group led students through a sports camp, teaching drills and techniques for volleyball, track, cross country, and soccer. All of the ASU students hosted an assembly where they spoke with the youngsters about their experiences and offered words of encouragement.

“It was a great experience, especially since the kids were interested in who I am and asked questions about my royalty status,” Jones said.

She said a highlight was when, after passing out ASU gear, two young girls asked to take photos with her.

“Little did I know that day that the youngest (girl) was the first attendant to Little Miss Havasu. She was smiling and said, ‘I’ll be the next Miss Indian World.’ In that moment, I knew that I had brightened at least one girl’s day and that’s the greatest gift that comes from life,” Jones said.

Jones hiked further into the canyon to three falls, Mooney Falls, Havasu Falls, and Little Navajo Falls, with students from the school. The climb out of the canyon took her about four hours.

“I’m honored to have made the trip since it was my first time and to come away with a successful feeling was more than I could ask for,” she said.

Jones is continuing her work with the American Indian Initiatives Office, participating on student panels to speak about ASU, promoting the university at events, and giving presentations and talks about the Navajo culture.

She participated in events at the beginning of the school year, such as Spirit, a welcome event for Native American students that allows Native American students to meet each other bond together and, share their interests.

In addition to her appearances as Miss Indian ASU, over the summer Jones was a mechanical engineering intern with General Electric in North Carolina. She worked with components that control power and voltage in energy transformers for buildings. It was her second internship. Her first internship was at GE in Connecticut.

She also is active in the Barrett Indigenous Culture Association, an organization of Native American honors students that she helped found.

“We wanted a group where we could explore our cultural identity, have cultural acceptance and encouragement,” she said.

BICA hosted a reception with renowned Native American author Sherman Alexie, who came to Barrett in 2015 to deliver the Rhodes Lecture, one of the honors college’s signature events. Last spring, BICA also presented a fashion show featuring Native American designers.

Future plans for BICA include community volunteer work and promoting the organization at university events and information sessions. Currently there are 15 BICA members.

Jones, set to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in May 2017, plans to attend graduate school. Her goal is to work in the area of renewable and sustainable energy for Native American tribes.

“I want to help make sure we are aware of the reality we face that energy is an important resource and that it should be distributed and used wisely. I also want to promote education for youth and encourage them to take what they learn back to their tribal homes and make their communities better,” she said.

Nicole Greason

Director of Marketing and Public Relations , Barrett, The Honors College

480-965-8415 nicole.greason@asu.edu

‘Coming out’ in the classroom, but not by choice

Starting out as a college freshman can be hard. Students are leaving home for the first time, meeting the demands of a rigorous college education and trying to make new friends. And, for undergraduate students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or asexual (LGBTQIA), or who may be struggling with their identity, the biology classroom may not necessarily be a welcom...

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‘Coming out’ in the classroom, but not by choice

ASU research finds active learning classrooms may negatively impact LGBTQIA students

August 26, 2016

Starting out as a college freshman can be hard.

Students are leaving home for the first time, meeting the demands of a rigorous college education and trying to make new friends. Active Learning Classroom An active learning biology classroom at Arizona State University. Photo by Sandra Leander/ASU Download Full Image

And, for undergraduate students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or asexual (LGBTQIA), or who may be struggling with their identity, the biology classroom may not necessarily be a welcoming place.

In a first-of-its-kind study published in the latest issue of CBE-Life Sciences Education, researchers from Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences found that active learning classrooms, which require more group work than traditional lecture courses, may create an unaccepting atmosphere for LGBTQIA students.

“In an active learning classroom, students are asked to interact a lot with each other and the instructor,” said Katelyn Cooper, doctoral student and lead author of the study. “The students’ LGBTQIA identities are more relevant in an active learning course, particularly for transgender students who may be transitioning during the semester.”

In the U.S., 3.6 percent of people identify as LGBTQIA. For this study, seven students from a 180-person classroom were interviewed, which is similar to the national average.

“Our goal in our classrooms at Arizona State University is to be inclusive to every student, regardless of their LGBTQIA identity or any other social identity,” said Sara Brownell, assistant professor with the School of Life Sciences and senior author of the study. “The national conversation right now is to move more science classrooms into the active learning model. But as we do this, we need to be cautious how these student interactions are playing out in class. These interactions among students may impact how well these LGBTQIA students are doing in the class. This study is the first to illuminate potential challenges for these students in active learning spaces.”

Assistant professor Sara Brownell (left) and doctoral student Katelyn Cooper (right), both with the ASU School of Life Sciences, conducted a first-of-its-kind study on the active learning classroom experiences of LGBTQIA students. Photo by Sandra Leander

The researchers found that all of the students who identified as LGBTQIA struggled in some way with group work. While the students faced more opportunities to interact more closely with others, this presented more opportunities for them to have to self-identify. The researchers say this is important because oftentimes, students come out during their college years but are hesitant to do so before they’re fully ready to announce their LGBTQIA identity to the outside world.

“In a traditional lecture course, students can sit in the back of the group and be somewhat invisible,” Brownell said. “But in the interactive class, we ask them to engage with others. This is extending into conversations they don’t want to have. They have to decide, ‘Do I come out to this person I don’t know? Do I lie? Do I change the conversation?’”

Brownell’s lab studies how students learn biology in the classroom. In particular, she and her research team investigate the experiences of students with potentially underrepresented or stigmatized social identities in the classroom, including gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation and LGBTQIA identity.

“It has been shown that more diverse groups of people lead to better science. It’s important to make sure that our next generation of scientists is diverse, and this starts in the undergraduate classroom. Students with LGBTQIA identities can offer unique and important perspectives,” added Cooper.

The researchers do not recommend moving away from the active learning classroom. In fact, they support the active learning model as an effective way to help retain students in STEM fields and keep them engaged in challenging topics. However, they do recommend that instructors think carefully about how they structure group work and suggest they can work toward creating safe spaces for students to feel comfortable sharing their identities.

The next step for the researchers is exploring this topic at a national level and in different geographic locations to see whether students in other parts of the country have similar experiences in the active learning setting.