Circle of Hope

Kianna’s journey began with her family’s hope for a better life. It carried her far from home, but never beyond the reach of community – or the support of friends like you who helped keep the path open.

Kianna is Diné, a member of the Navajo Nation from New Mexico. “For me, family and community have always been my north star,” she says. She grew up in a close family where money was tight, but education was the answer. Her parents raised five children while taking college courses, working multiple jobs, and doing their best to keep food on the table and the power on at home.

Her mother was the first person Kianna saw graduate from college. While her mother went to school, Kianna’s father cared for the children. Then, when her mother began working, her father returned to school. Her grandmothers stepped in, too, helping take Kianna and her siblings to school and other activities.

“My family believed in our potential,” Kianna says. “And it only made sense to honor their efforts by doing my best.”

From an early age, Kianna understood that education was not something one person achieved alone. It was something many people could work together to make possible.

She also knew it remained out of reach for many Native students like her.

When Kianna began thinking about college, her parents told her honestly that they could not afford to help. With four siblings still at home, the cost would have come at their expense. Even choosing where to attend school was shaped by financial pressure. A major university across the country in New York City was not only prestigious – it also offered the financial aid she needed.

Kianna left everything familiar and enrolled at Columbia University, determined to make her time away from family meaningful and to represent Indigenous talent and culture.

The transition was difficult. Far from home, she missed the closeness of family and friends. Native people seemed invisible to professors both in the curriculum and in the classroom. At times, the isolation, expense, and pressure of college felt overwhelming.

“At times, I feared that I would become another statistic of a college dropout,” she says.

But Kianna remembered she was not alone – and how important relations are to Native people. She found other Indigenous students on campus who understood what she was feeling. Their support helped her see that she belonged, and that there was work to do to help other Native students.

Even in New York City, Kianna relied on lessons from her upbringing. “Education is an opportunity not for yourself but for your entire community,” she says.

A scholarship from the American Indian College Fund helped create that opportunity.

For Kianna, the scholarship was more than financial support. It helped her cover the remaining costs her family could not help with – but it also provided encouragement at a critical moment.

“It really made me believe that what I was doing was actually worth it,” Kianna says. “There were people outside my family who really believed in the journey I was undertaking.”

Kianna went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in political science and recently graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University, with a master’s degree in politics and education. Today, she is using her education to serve Indigenous communities and help Native youth imagine futures filled with possibility.

“The impact I really want to make is to take all of those tools, stories, and different strategies back home to my community, Diné, Navajo Nation, and also Indigenous communities nationwide.”

She is well on her way, having worked in admissions, advocated for Indigenous student spaces, conducted research focused on Native students, engaged with Tribal communities on issues, and supported Native youth leadership pathways. In the future, she hopes to continue expanding her impact on education through Tribal law.

For Kianna, success is not measured by wealth or status. It is measured by harmony – by the ability for her family and her community to receive what they need and give what they can.

When friends and relatives like you give to the American Indian College Fund, you help Native students like Kianna continue when college feels financially out of reach. You help them rise above financial hardship, stay connected to their culture, and carry their education home with purpose.

As Kianna says, Native students need more than words. They need people willing to meet them halfway. Thank you for being that person.