This week, I spent a couple of hours talking with a class from West Anchorage High School,
my alma mater. Invited back by my senior literature teacher, Mrs. Tinker, I talked with a group of high school teachers about my path from high school through college. In so doing, I flashed back to how I was finishing high school. The worries and stressors I had, as well as the focuses and ideals I held. Charting the path back from now to then, I was amazed at how much I’ve grown. Not only physically (growing from 6’1” to 6’3”), but also characteristically. I’m less shy now than I was then, more responsible than I was, and more sure of myself and my capabilities than I ever was in high school. I also feel more sure of what I want to do and where I want to be than I ever was in high school. Back then, I thought I wanted to do something government or policy related, maybe internationally, working with anybody from Congress to the World Bank. At the time, I was eager to get out of Alaska and not too sure if I would come back. Now, working in the Senate and in my third (and hopefully final) year of college at American University, I have a much smaller, well defined focus. I want to go into federal Indian law. I want to be a lawyer and potentially a litigator. I hope to get involved with the creation and implementation of federal Indian policy, and want to get to know the levers of power within politics. Bridging my mixed identity as both an Alaska Native and American Indian man, I want to reform policies concerning all Indigenous communities – particularly as it pertains to increased tribal sovereignty concerning issues of public safety. I solidly feel I know what I want to do, and the way to get to a place where I can actually do it. It’s a remarkable feeling. Talking with the class, I hoped to provide them with some of the building blocks I’ve used to get where I am now. I passed along advice from my dad concerning problems that may come up in life and how to get through them. Advice I gained from my physics class about how to move forward when you don’t know what to do. And how a universal truth to life is that everyone, even the most seemingly implacable person, doesn’t have it all figured out. How we’re all working and learning together as a collective. Fielding their questions, I reminded them to have faith in themselves, and confidence in their abilities. I encouraged them to take chances, and trust their instincts. And most of all, I encouraged them to ask every question they had, no matter how simple it may seem. At the end of it all, I affirmed my belief in their potential, thinking back to my own. Knowing that I never believed I would make it this far, but believed I had the skills to. Thankful as always that along the way I had people who supported me, teachers who believed in me, and opportunities offered to me.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Mike Juvrud