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On Wednesday, September 20, 2017, six young, blooming Red Cloud scientists took part in the 40th-Annual American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Conference in Denver, CO. These young women—seniors Sadan Bettelyoun and Payton Sierra, and juniors Brianna Vocu, Charlee Brewer, and Isabella Lakota, and Tierra Baird—are each participants in the Native American Healthcare Scholars Program, a program created in partnership between the University of South Dakota's Sanford School of Medicine and Red Cloud to expose Native American students to careers in science and healthcare fields. They were selected for this program based on aptitude, recommendation, and exuberance.
During the 3-day conference, students attended 3-4 seminars daily, with discussions ranging from holistic medicine to emotional intelligence, indigenous diet to renewable energy, and native language computer coding to sustainable community dynamics. Students also participated in a career and college fair with nearly 400 companies and universities represented and perused 200 student research poster-presentations.
This gathering is the largest of its kind and represents an increasingly important minority—indigenous scientists. Native peoples are greatly underrepresented in the STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—fields. The American Indian Science and Engineering Society not only creates opportunities for networking and support, it is also a shining example of the potential and strength of the Native American scientist community. The young women who attended this year's conference are the PhDs, MDs, educators, and engineers of tomorrow, and they were given a chance to see their futures through the examples of their older, scientist peers during the conference weekend. In addition to the six current students at the conference, Red Cloud alums Dylan Tobacco ‘16, Randy Hughes ‘15, Savannah Jensen ‘14, Connor Richards ‘17, Tia Janis ‘17, Stephanie Emery ‘17, Gusti Terkildsen ‘15, Brennon Murdock ‘15, and Cherella Hughes ‘12 were also attendees of the conference.
Lastly, but certainly not least, senior Sadan Bettelyoun brought great honor to Red Cloud High School as a presenter of research at this year's conference. She performed water quality and microbiome research this year on nine of Pine Ridge's water supplies under the supervision of Creighton University and Oglala Lakota College professors. Not only was Sadan's work done almost entirely independently, but she performed research here, on Pine Ridge, and produced results that are relevant and important to her own community.”
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