Introduction – Introduce yourself using your full name and tribal affiliation. Include information about your home, family and community. Unique Circumstances - Tell us any special circumstances or obstacles you have had to overcome to attend college. Let us know what is unique and different about you that will help the committee to understand you more fully. What do you think it is about you that will help you succeed in college? Academics – Describe yourself as a student - how you made the grades you did, and how much time you spend studying. Tell us who/what inspired you to pursue a college education. Tell us why you have selected a particular major. Describe any school leadership positions you have held and how they shaped you. Tell us about any support systems you will have while pursuing your degree. Tell us about school activities you were involved in. Career Plans – Describe your ultimate career goal. Tell us the steps you are taking to reach your goals. Explain what qualities you see in yourself that will help you in your journey and career. Discuss your strengths and weaknesses. Service to the Tribal Community – Share your Indian heritage and what it means to you. Describe your plan to help make positive changes in the Indian community. Explain how your college education will allow you to do so. If you were to return to work in your community, what would you do? Leadership/Community Service – Describe and explain your community involvement activities. Tell us how your involvement may apply to your future. If you don’t have traditional community involvement, describe how you helped your tribe, family or community. Describe your financial needs and how you plan to fund your educational goals.
College List: Colorado Mountain College San Juan College
College/Scholarship Essay
I’m Ashley Tyler and I spent my early years in Sweetwater, Arizona, I grew up in Durango, Colorado. My family is full Navajo including myself. I only went to preschool when I use to live in Arizona then we moved to Durango, Colorado because both of my parents worked there.It was very beautiful living there, I didn’t have a thing to worry about. Eventually my family had to move to Durango. Everything changed once I started going to school here. The education was way better in Durango than it was in Arizona, everyone in my family knew that and they were excited for me. They would encourage me to do good and focus on my classes. School had always been hard on my family because we were constantly moving around in Durango. I missed many days in school and I started caring less about my education because when I wasn’t at school I was taking care of my siblings at home. Soon enough we finally got settled during my sophomore year of high school and with the support of my family from Arizona I was doing better in high school. The next year after everything was going very good a few of my family members and friends passed away, that took a toll on me. I had less motivation to do my work, my mind wasn’t in the right place. My story is ultimately one of discovering myself and my goals, and now I am ready to take that self-knowledge and rediscover my larger tribal heritage.
When I was in middle school I joined a program called, S.O.S which stands for Snowboarding Outreach Society. This was when I was introduced with culinary arts. I was only in sixth grade when I joined and what we did was we set goals and volunteered. I remember I volunteered at the homeless shelter and we made dinner for over a dozen people. It felt good to take over the kitchen and figure out what we wanted to cook as a group. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to do it more. Since then I’ve been interested in going into culinary arts, later in high school I did an internship with a bakery called Jean Pierre’s Bakery. I wanted to explore different areas in culinary. I was excited that they also own a restaurant, I got to intern with them for three weeks. One of my big projects I did was making a dozen of trays of pastries that would be taken to their restaurant. This was during my junior year and the reason I’m interesting in culinary is from my family members and observing restaurants when we go. I taken in everything that goes on and I imagined myself being behind the kitchen sharing my own foods with the public.
I’ve always been interested in going into culinary arts and business for my career. The college I want to attend to is Colorado Mountain College in Glendale Springs, Colorado to take the culinary course. Culinary isn’t the only career I’m interested in, if I change my mind during college about my career I’m going to finish and get my degree before I move on. I’m also interested in computer science, this was introduced to me when I was in seventh grade. For this career choice I would want to go to San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico to take this course.
Since I moved from Arizona I left a part of me that wants to be more involved with the Indian community. Before we moved, my family and I were starting to get involved with the community I was only turning five years old. So we weren’t that involved yet. As I grew older my friends and family would ask us if we wanted to go with them to an event like the Navajo Nations that was going on at the time. We weren’t ever able to go because my parents were always working and my brothers and I had school. When I go to college I want to reconnect with the Indian community and be involved as much as I can.
In my community I have been involved with the events and volunteering. I started working to help my family out when I turned sixteen years old and we still do our traditional ceremonies when we go to Arizona. My grandma teaches me how to cook traditional foods and my parents also teach me about our culture. I’ve been slowly learning to speak Navajo with my brothers from my parents and other family members. With the scholarship I’m going to be using it for my books and get the main things I need for my classes.
Reflection
How you grew (what skill improved?) I improved my writing skills in a more professional way and time management was also improved. What it was like before (give a specific example- you could quote an early draft of your essay here!) This next sentence is from my first paragraph, "If I end up not liking it then I can go to my other options and go into history or film school." This should not go into any college or scholarship essay because it shows that the student isn't exactly sure what they chose is what they actually want for a career. I removed that sentence because it made it sound like I wasn't interested in what careers I chose. What feedback you got that pushed you to revise? I got critique’s saying that I should go more in depth in certain areas in my essay and explain more on why I chose something. Then after revising my essay, I got more critiques about adding more about my background and tribe. Evidence of your growth in this area (again, you should quote the final draft of your essay here!) After the critiques this is how I re-wrote the sentence with more detail, "Culinary isn’t the only career I’m interested in, if I change my mind during college about my career I’m going to finish and get my degree before I move on. I’m also interested in computer science, this was introduced to me when I was in seventh grade." Explanation of what you did to make this growth happen- what was your process? I went to my peers first for critiquing and revised what needed to be fixed. I proof read it once more before having my teacher give me more critiques on my essay. I was asked some questions about how I was involved in the Indian community and other questions about my background to help me go more in depth with my essay. I got help from my parents with some questions what I was stuck on and that helped me a lot with my essay.