By Jasmine Neosh, American Indian College Fund student ambassador
On the first day of law school orientation, my classmates and I stood in a circle and identified ourselves by, among other things, where we had gone to school for undergrad. I attend what’s called a “top 14” law school– one of the most prestigious and competitive in the country and the world. One by one, my classmates listed other elite universities, ones that everyone would know. Harvard. Princeton. Columbia. Stanford. Brown. And then it came to me.
I felt nervous for the millionth time that day but rather than shrinking, I stood up tall, offered a gentle friendly wave, and offered up my credentials: Jasmine Neosh. College of Menominee Nation, class of 2022.
In some places, this announcement would have generated a lot of enthusiasm. I have been to conferences in very elite places where the presence of a Tribal college graduate is enough to generate a palpable giddiness. In law spaces, however, I tend to get curiosity. This is natural– many people have never heard of Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), much less known someone who has attended one. When I first started talking about the TCU movement to my peers, I mostly found comfort in talking about a community that I missed dearly. As time went on, I found myself talking about it more and more not just for comfort but because I came to realize just how much the College of Menominee Nation had done to prepare me for the wonderful life that I am now building.
I am a dual-degree student, working on an MS at the University of Michigan’s School for the Environment and Sustainability as well as my law degree. During the first semester of graduate school, I found myself revisiting familiar but advanced concepts that I had studied extensively in undergrad– things like systems thinking, place-based learning, geographic information systems, and ecosystem management.
In my law classes, I found myself able to answer questions from even the toughest professors calmly and thoroughly– my confidence the product of my undergraduate professors who gave me the skills I needed to communicate complex or even uncomfortable thoughts with confidence and poise.
In my extracurricular activities, I was able to plan out and track the progress of huge events, organize support and ensure the efficient use of limited resources– skills I learned through my CMN public administration degree. I approached new and challenging things with enthusiasm because the growth mindset I had developed in undergrad had shown me that the knowledge for which I had fought the hardest is the knowledge that I would most cherish.
Of all of these gifts, however, the one I am perhaps most grateful for is the strong cultural context in which my education was rooted. While many non-Native academics still situate Indigenous Peoples solely within history, my experience as a Tribal college student gave me the space I needed to interact with cutting edge technology, evolving legal issues and a rapidly changing world in the context of my own culture. I left College of Menominee Nation able to articulate the complex values and issues of my own community in a way that would be coherent to outsiders (and potential allies). I found that I was able to critically evaluate ideas that even my most brilliant classmates took for granted–not with malice or condescension but the open-heartedness of one who knows first-hand how big the world of ideas can be. Beyond even the technical skills that I acquired or the lines on my CV, it was this recontextualization that gave me the confidence I needed to thrive in my new world as an outlier without ever losing myself inside it. I am able to show up in the toughest times knowing exactly who I am and what I am doing, whether it’s my community that needs me or I just need myself.
Three years after leaving the College of Menominee Nation, I am a successful dual-degree student with a career that I love and that can make my family proud. I have secured the job of my dreams for after graduation, well before I cross the stage. I am part of a flourishing community that shows its love for the Indian Country of tomorrow by putting in the work today. I have won awards and certificates, served in countless leadership positions both locally and nationally, and built relationships with heroes that show me the kind of professional I want to be. And as fulfilling as all of this is, it’s still just the beginning. The road ahead is long and I don’t know everywhere it’s going to go; but wherever it takes me, when it’s time to introduce myself and talk about where I have come from, I will stand up straight and say it proudly: Jasmine Neosh, College of Menominee Nation, class of 2022.
