Kyri Ungatavinekent-Duncan  |  The Salt Lake Tribune

Kyri Ungatavinekent-Duncan

Education in his terms can be summarized and interpreted as navigating the world outside of being American Indian. With my family’s strong sense of cultural values and practices, the only thing left was to gain the tools of modern society. Looking to be a first-generation college student, there were many things I didn’t know. It was almost a miracle how Martha Macomber, the educational liaison between the University of Utah and the Ute Indian Tribe, came to my aid.

I was very fortunate that Beacon Scholars, known as First-Gen Scholars now, supported my admittance. Many American Indian students face isolation, imposter syndrome, culture shock and other mentally draining experiences when leaving home to attend college. Luckily, Beacon Scholars was a program that aimed to build a community and offer resources to first-generation students of diverse communities.

Speaking from my experience, I can break it down to two aspects that improve the quality of attending college for American Indians. The first is balancing previous and current environments. As stated in the beginning, I came from a family that believed in cultural teachings and communal support. Most students who I work with share the same upbringings. It was easy for me to get reconnected with those practices because I lived only two hours and some change away .

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