Salt River Pima-Maricopa student encourages Native American youth to thrive through higher education

November 30, 2017

Dual psychology and American Indian studies major Micah Carlos hopes to make a difference in tribal communities by encouraging youth to thrive through higher education.

“I know we can be so much better than what we currently are,” said Carlos. “I don’t see a lot of people from my community finishing school, but you need school in order to run a government and that’s what I want to see; our people, running our government, running our tribe.”

Carlos speaking to a group of children about the importance of becoming active in both their tribal community and their education.

To help change this, Carlos volunteers with the Office of American Indian Initiatives Tribal Nation Tour, which encourages young students from Arizona’s 22 native tribes to pursue higher education.

“I know a lot of our native students come from backgrounds where they don’t have the proper finances to pursue higher education, so I encourage them to get involved from an early age because it opens up so many resources and opportunities that they can use to help them pursue education.”

Carlos is proud of her heritage and how it has shaped her into the person that she is.

“For native students, our culture is more than saying, ‘I’m from some place’,” she said. “For me, I can say I’m from Salt River and that means so much about who I am as a person, from my values to my language, to the way I view my role in society. This has helped me know where I fit in the world and know what is important in my life.”

Carlos hopes to one day make it her career to serve the Native American community by becoming a policy advisor.

“I want to pursue law school and I think I want to go along the route of being a policy advisor because a lot of the stuff that happens within reservations is influenced by Federal Indian Policy,” Carlos said. “That way I can have an influence and be a proactive force.”

Lindsay Cameron

eossmarketing@asu.edu

A hope for farmers in the palm of two Sun Devils’ hands

Coming to ASU as a freshman, Stephen Annor-Wiafe had one goal in mind: He was going to find a way to help the people of his home country, Ghana.

When he met Bernard Jere, a global agribusiness major originally from Malawi, he knew he could make his dream a reality. The two began brainstorming ways they could have a large impact. Annor-Wiafe remembered his time growing up on a palm tree plantation and in particular, how difficult it was for his mother to extract the oil from the trees.

Stephen Annor-Wiafe working on building a palm oil extraction facility in Ghana.

 

This led to the creation of Palm Tree Experts, an organic palm oil extraction company that provides financial and nutritional support to help farmers in Ghana harvest palm oil, which, according to Annor-Wiafe, is still in dire need there.

“There are not enough palm oil extraction facilities near the palm tree plantations in Ghana,” he said. “The ones that are already there are not easily accessible by farmers. These farmers assume that they will be able to sell their fruit after they harvest it, but if the oil is not transported to the palm oil extraction facility within seven days it begins to decay, which decreases the worth of the oil, causing the farmers to lose profit.”

The business helps bring the extraction facilities closer to the farmers.

Both Annor-Wiafe and Jere have taken full advantage of the opportunities offered at ASU. They have used the resources offered by Changemaker Central such as the Startup Summit and Changemaker Challenge, which have enabled them to form their pitch and learn from other entrepreneurs.

They have also been a part of Venture Devils, which connected them with an entrepreneurial mentor and an opportunity to compete for funding. This alone earned Palm Oil Experts $5,000 to put toward their business.

“The entrepreneurship programs here at ASU have helped us immensely in creating Palm Tree Experts,” Annor-Wiafe said. “It doesn’t surprise me that we’re number one in innovation because we have seen first-hand how students are guided and supported. We have received many grants while here to help us continue to make Palm Tree Experts a stronger, more stable business that has the potential to be extremely successful.”

Annor-Wiafe traveled to Ghana in early September 2017 and will remain there for a year to oversee the building process of a palm tree extraction facility.

“The number one goal for us is to create an initiative to support low income farmers by increasing both their crop yield and their standard of life, while also creating income for ourselves to enable us to continue doing this,” he said.

Lindsay Cameron

eossmarketing@asu.edu

International Night: A Celebration of Everyone

November 20, 2017

As ASU’s largest cultural festival, International Night provides students with the opportunity to not only learn about other cultures, but to experience them first-hand. According to Senior Coordinator of International Engagement Xin Zhou, this makes the event diverse, yet inclusive.

“ASU has such a vibrant cultural diversity level that it allows for so many students to come to this event,” Zhou said. “This is the perfect way to showcase how diverse the population is and lets students have the opportunity to include others in the celebration of their own culture.”

The event is led and organized by the Coalition of International Students and features 39 cultural clubs and organizations on campus.

Cody Trimmell, a member of the German Culture club, enjoyed the chance to show off his culture while learning about others.

“International night is a really great opportunity for the different cultures and clubs from ASU to come together and for everyone to see all of the different opportunities available,” Trimmell said. “It’s cool for us as an organization, too, because we also get to walk around and see the other cultures ourselves, where normally we are focused on promoting our own.”

The event featured 25 student performances and food from seven regions, allowing students to immerse themselves even further in the different cultures.

Syea Umar, a sophomore global health major, enjoyed the variety of food and performances.

“I think it is a great opportunity for the people that are coming from different cultures to experience food from all over the world because there are so many representations.” Umar said. “Food from a culture like Ethiopia’s is something that most people have never eaten, so they may have the chance to find out that they really like it.”

International night also highlighted other elements of the various cultures such as traditional dress, games, music and language. But Zhou believes that the students who come and share their experiences are the most important aspect of the event.

“Everyone has culture to share with others, whether it be domestic or international,” Zhou said. “And this event is so great because it brings everyone out, and lets them share their experiences and stories and make friends with people they never would have met otherwise.”

International Night is also the “closing ceremony” of International Education Week, which focuses on international education and the cultural opportunities that come along with it.

Coordinator of International Student Engagement Earl Lee hopes students are able to take what they learned at International Night and use it in their everyday lives.

“International Education Week shouldn’t just be celebrated for one week,” Lee said. “You have opportunities to celebrate culture every day by trying new things or by talking to others. You can also join organizations that encourage cultural knowledge, such as the Coalition of International Students, Changemaker or one of the many more on campus. It is just so important to take everything you learn and were impacted by at International Night and to keep building on it.”

Lindsay Cameron

eossmarketing@asu.edu

Sun Devil makes impact through sexual violence prevention education

Dual justice & social inquiry and gender major Hannah Grabowski works as the operations coordinator for ASU’s Sexual Violence Awareness and Response Program. Grabowski was inspired to begin working in violence prevention after becoming a member of the student organization Devils in the Bedroom.

“I closely connected to the organization’s values on inclusivity, equality and justice,” Grabowski said. “Then I quickly found that I wanted to dedicate my time at ASU to a cause that impacts everyone.”

Student speakers from the 2017 Symposium on Sexual Violence Prevention in Higher Education

Throughout her time working with the program, she has formed many new friendships, developed new career goals and explored her own identity with regard to how she interacts with the world. But her favorite aspect of her involvement is the impact she has on fellow Sun Devils.

“I am always overjoyed when I have students, even just one, mention to me that our education has reached them to a degree that could inspire behavior or attitude change,” Grabowski said.

Grabowski hopes to continue to make an impact in violence prevention as she continues her career.

“I have faith in the goodness of people and believe that my work can spark actions in others,” Grabowski said. “Violence prevention is a part of a duty I have to inspire the world to be a more joyful place.”

Grabowski has played a key role in the planning of the university-wide Symposium on Sexual Violence Prevention in Higher Education that will take place on Friday, Jan. 26 from 9 a.m. –  4:30 p.m.

“Students should go because they will be able to leave with a better understanding of what both sexual violence and prevention looks like among different communities,” Grabowski said. “They will also participate in a workshop where we will develop strategies for state-specific issues and concerns.”

Learn more about the Sexual Violence Awareness and Response Program.

Lindsay Cameron

eossmarketing@asu.edu