ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Two universities in the North Carolina mountains will split a $220,000 grant to support indigenous people studying math and science. The money will help fund studies and mentorship opportunities for students at the University of North Carolina Asheville and Western Carolina University.
“It’s just a place that I really like to come to,” Western Carolina student Seth C. Penn said as he walked past the rivercane on campus. “Rivercane is extremely important to our people culturally, but also a lot of us native students here on campus. We might come down here from time to time, get a piece of cane if we need it for craft and or just come and remember who we are as indigenous people and our close connection to the land.”
It is a resource used to make arrows and basketweaves and one with deep meaning to Penn as an enrolled member of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama.
“I go to bed every day as a Cherokee person, a Cherokee person who knows he’s not a full blood, but a Cherokee person who knows very much he’s a Cherokee and will never stray from that identity,” Penn said.
In his academic career, he decided to combine two of his greatest passions.
“We all have our area of impact in our area of importance,” Penn said. “For me, that’s culture, that’s land management, that’s agriculture.”
That’s what he’s continuing to explore as a STEM student in Cullowhee.
“We Cherokee people like to say gadugi — working together for the better of everyone here, working together for the betterment of just society as a whole,” Penn said. “That’s really what I hope to do with my degree and my expertise, and Western has given me a great opportunity to do that. To see indigenous people get back in touch with land management, with agriculture, with all of these things that are very much part of who we are.”
His university, along with UNC Asheville, will now be sharing around $220,000 through the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership — a program created to address the underrepresentation of Native American students in STEM fields.
These funds will work toward providing indigenous students with access to more mentorships, funding and research opportunities.
“We want everyone here to feel appreciated and like they belong and they have the right to embrace their indigenous heritage,” Penn said. “So, specifically with this grant, it gives the opportunity to a lot of students in a lot of different fields across STEM who may not have access to certain funding.”
Penn has already felt the support.
“It creates pathways for people and students to be able to do things that they normally probably could not do,” Penn said. “So, this grant is huge. It opens up a lot of doors for many people. Me, personally, I was able to go to the AISES [American Indian Science and Engineering Society] conference back in October, the only state-recognized tribal member from the school to get to go.”