TWO PSU scholarships are helping Ben Steward, 38, graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in Indigenous Nations and Native American Studies. After high school, he worked in the medical field for 12 years, bringing health and dental services to Indigenous villages in isolated, rural areas of Alaska. He had great relationships with the people he met, but he felt a little bit like an outsider, he said. The experience drove him to reconnect with his own tribe in Southern Oregon, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. He ultimately wanted to work for his tribe, but he needed a bachelor’s degree. He heard about PSU’s Indigenous Nations Studies program and transferred in 2020, after finishing his associate’s degree online. He achieved his employment goal faster than expected last year, when his tribe hired him as its cultural programs coordinator, based in Roseburg. He’s finishing his degree remotely from there. In his new job, he designs and leads classes and events to preserve his tribe’s language and culture for its 2,400 citizens. “It really takes an active focus to maintain those things in today’s world,” he said. “The language has been so close to getting lost. And if they go away, they are gone.That’s a big drive for me.” His scholarships help him focus more on his studies, spend more time with his wife and daughters, and worry less about paying his bills. “I don’t think I would be this close to graduation if not for the help I received,” he said. “The financial support has been easily one of the most important factors in my success, without a doubt. Every penny has been appreciated.” “It feels like people can see how hard you’re trying. It’s support when you don’t think you have support anywhere else.” KIMBERLY KINNAMAN almost gave up on her childhood dream of becoming a surgeon after a teenage pregnancy and an unhappy marriage. Scholarships not only made it possible for her to keep going, but also helped steel her resolve. “It feels like people can see how hard you’re trying,” she said. “It’s support when you don’t think you have support anywhere else. It’s the difference between dropping out and keeping on going.” Kinnaman, 31, has wanted to be a surgeon since she was nine years old, when she had back surgery for scoliosis at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Portland. She never felt scared in the hospital, and she’s been fascinated with medicine ever since. She remembers getting an anatomy book one year for Christmas and spending hours reading it and drawing intricate pictures of the human heart, because she thought it was so beautiful. But as she grew up, she lost hope for that future. Her parents didn’t go to college, and it wasn’t common in her community near Medford. SPRING 2022 // 31
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