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Pinon,
Ariz., students visit IU
from their classroom
Video conference aids
recruitment
Pinon,
Ariz.:
A group
of high school students
came for a college visit
but never saw the flood
of cars leaving the IU
campus, the admissions
building or toured the
dorms. They never even
set a foot in Indiana.
Instead of taking a
plane, train or bus from
Pinon High School in
Pinon, Ariz., the
students brought their
entire classroom to a
conference room in the
School of Education
through a video chat on
Nov. 25.
“Here was a way to have
the opportunity for them
to talk to people,” said
Lillian Casillas, the
interim director of the
First Nations
Educational Cultural
Center.
Long-distance learning
was a chance for
students living on an
American Indian
reservation to interact
with a panel of college
students who were also
American Indian, she
said.
“At the beginning they
were shy, but they had
really good and
thought-out questions,”
said junior Nathen
Steininger, president of
IU’s American Indian
Student Association and
a member of the panel.
The hardest part is the
cultural differences,
said graduate student
and AISA treasurer Del
Criscenzo. Going to
college can be a culture
shock for students who
move from a reservation
where they know everyone
in their neighborhood to
a college campus such as
IU, where there is a low
American Indian
population, she said.
The Pinon students were
surprised to learn there
was only one pow-wow
each year, and fry
bread, a food served
daily on the
reservation, wasn’t
served in the dining
halls. Those are things
they take for granted,
and no one knows what
those items are here,
Criscenzo said.
Steininger said he
thought there is a lack
of understanding about
American Indian culture,
and the differences can
make students stand out
and feel alone. The
panel allowed the high
school students to build
a connection with other
American Indian students
even before they apply.
American Indian students
are often afraid of
going to college because
it means losing their
identity, Steininger
said. He said fear
exists due to stories of
their grandparents’
boarding school
experiences. The
boarding schools were
miles from their
families, and native
languages and dress were
not allowed and some
native students
encountered abuse.
“It was a stripping of
culture,” Steininger
said.
The panel encouraged
involvement in American
Indian student groups on
campus to meet other
native students.
“They could connect with
college students and
hear their firsthand
experience,” Casillas
said.
She gave a list of
typical questions to the
panel so they could be
prepared, and almost
every question on the
list was asked.
Questions included
topics such as class
size, scholarships, dorm
life and extracurricular
activities on campus.
FNECC hoped to schedule
a second video chat
between the Pinon High
School students
interested in IU and
representatives of IU
admissions.
“It gives us many, many
opportunities across the
country,” Casillas said.
She wants to expand long
distance learning to any
high school, on American
Indian reservations and
off, who have the
technology and
capability for a video
chat.
In 2007, the FNECC, AISA
and the Native American
Graduate Student
Association brought a
group of Navajo students
to visit IU for a week.
But cuts in funding made
a 2008 visit not
feasible. Long-distance
learning was started
after a brainstorm with
a Pinon High School
teacher who is an IU
alumni.
Pinon High School had
the camera available, so
it happened quick with
the connections we had,
Criscenzo said.
“Do what you want to
do,” Steininger told the
Pinon High School
students. “College is
defiantly an option.”
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=65010&comview=1
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