2012-2013 Vermont Native American Scholarship Recipients
CHELSEA DAY
- A
second year recipient, and a resident of
Swanton, Vermont. She is a first generation college student at Champlain
College studying Social Work. She is a first generation college
student at Champlain College studing Social Work. She
has been fortunate to be able to have an internship in her
first year as a college
student. She did fieldwork at the Integrated Arts
Academy in the Old North End of Burlington. The
Integrated Arts Academy is an elementary school where the
majority of the population are children from refugees from
other countries. Also, only 56 percent of the school
population speaks English. She worked in a fourth
grade classroom where many of the students are not Caucasian
and come from poor economic backgrounds. She says what
these children need is an opportunity to have a better life
and the answer to this problem is a program like the
Challenger Space Center. This NASA sponsored program
gets students to use their imaginations, to engage with
other students of use teamwork. She says the
program will benefit them to a future without
discrimination, without poverty and a future full of
education and excitement for life.
COURTNEY NEWTON - A second year recipient, and a resident of Swanton,
Vermont. She is a second year student majoring in elementary education
at Johnson State College. She says growing up she always knew she
wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Education is important to
her because without it people would not be able to lean and grow. She
could act as a model for other Abenaki students. She would like to go
back to her community so that she can teach students, especially other
Abenaki students. Courtney could teach them about their culture and
help them learn more about it. She also says she would like to take
her interest in space to education elementary school children. She plans on
teaching kindergarten through sixth grade so there will be different levels
of space study that she will teach. She would like to focus mostly on
the solar system and how the sky works. She thinks it is important for
children to learn about space so that they know what is going on around
them.. The should know how the earth works and what makes up the solar
system. Courtney says teachers and NASA work together to help each other
learn and grow. NASA uses their information and studies to further
student's knowledge about space. They get better and advance in
technology because they learned and used that to help them.
TAZNEY RYEA - A first year recipient, and a resident of
Highgate Center,
Vermont. She is a first generation college student at University of
Vermont studying Nursing. She has always wanted to
become a nurse once she started high school. She says
becoming a nurse will allow her to make a change in
someone's life by helping them regain strength and health.
Once she receives her bachelors degree, she will enroll in a
masters program. After she achieves her lifelong goal,
she plans on coming back to Franlin County and help heal her
community members. In looking at nursing and NASA,
there are exciting examples of the two working closely.
In the Gemini program, for instance, astronauts were taught
about what to do if they encounted a lack of exygen or a
lack of food. They first needed a quick lesson in
physiology and this was provided by nurses. She is
excited about the potential offered through NASA. She
says science is the cornerstone of nursing.
|
