Native American coordinator to recruit students from reservations
To help Utah State University’s Native American students, Student Services along with the Multicultural Student Center recently created and filled the position of Native American coordinator.
The coordinator, Sam Curly, is to support the existing 1 percent of Native Americans currently attending USU and bring new ones to campus.
Curly was chosen from 40 applicants because of his long experience working with the Native American community. A Navajo himself, Curly started providing support and services to Native American students in New Mexico nearly 10 years ago. He then transferred to Salt Lake Community College and worked there as a general adviser helping students transition from high school.
Westminster College was the last place Curly worked as an assistant director in charge of coordinating programs and tutoring student leaders.
Curly said some of the many ideas he has include “creating new activities on campus, and traveling to different reservations in our area and personally talking to leaders on each tribe about the importance of higher education, and recruiting new students.”
As a Native American, Curly also said that in their society, “education has a great priority.”
There are many struggles affecting Native Americans – such as unemployment rates, domestic violence, isolation and a lack of after-school programs – creating family problems and a rate of 60 to 70 percent high school dropouts on reservations, Curly said.
“Hope can bring a higher self-esteem and a possible solution to this problem,” Curly said, adding that in his own case he was provided with help to see further than primary education, to be able to dream of a better life and fit into society.
Juan Franco, vice president of Student Services, said he is looking forward to the results of Curly’s work.
“[I am] hoping that the opening of this new position and the strong presence of Mr. Sam Curly in it [will] provide outreach services to the many possible Native Americans at USU,” Franco said.
-jiq@cc.usu.edu