This article was initially published by New Mexico In Depth. Visit nmidepth.com to read more.
Nicole Pelt is on track to be the first person in her family to graduate college.
The 20-year-old Diné student is in her senior year at the University of New Mexico’s Albuquerque campus. She chose Native American Studies as a major because she wanted to learn about potential solutions to the impacts of colonization, like a widespread lack of clean, running water on the Navajo Nation.
“It means everything to me to get a degree,” Pelt said, adding that her mom enrolled in college but didn’t graduate because caring for Pelt and her sister and attending classes and studying became unmanageable. “Everything I do here at UNM, it’s not just for me. It’s also for my family.”
Her plan is to become a teacher, possibly at a local tribal school, and earn a master’s degree, most likely in Indigenous education.
But she almost didn’t make it.
During her first year at the university, Pelt became homeless.