For many tribal college students on American Indian reservations, choosing an education at a tribal college is often about being close to their community. Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) student Sky walks a few meters between home and his classes to carry his knowledge to the O’odham people.

Sky started his freshman year of college in Tempe, Arizona, many miles from the rural reservation in Sells. Sky left after that first year, describing it as a tough transition, going to class with lots of strangers in an auditorium. He returned home to take a few classes at the tribal college, where the student-professor ratio is much smaller; his fellow classmates are also neighbors and tribal members; and where students enjoy personal relationships with their instructors.

After working at casinos and performing odd jobs, Antone says he realized that he could complete his higher education goals by literally walking next door to where he has lived for the past 10 years.

“I had a moment of clarity; then, I walked home. I’ll just finish my school here, and better my community. That’s all I wanted to do,” Sky said.

Based on his leadership and academic performance, Sky was named the American Indian College Fund student of the year for TOCC in March 2010. He completed his studies at the two-year college in May and is enrolled at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he will pursue a bachelor’s degree in education this August.

Sky said, “It’s more than just me finishing my education, it’s about me going back home and teaching people and giving them something that wasn’t there before. Showing opportunity, giving them initiative. It’s so much more than the funding (I get from the American Indian College Fund). It’s not just about helping me, it’s about helping my people.”

The Tohono O’odham traditions of hard work and patience propelled Sky to accept the role of learning about and teaching the community about the people’s traditional, sustainable foods. He stresses that these practices are what kept Native Americans alive: food sources, awareness of the human relationship to nature, and working together. He adds that these practices can help fight the high rates of diabetes in the community today.

“The squash, corn and tempre beans are indigenous foods left by our Creator and have sustained us for years,” he said. “We were farmers with limited water that we collected from rain and the washes for irrigation. The O’odham, that connection with the land, the relationship with the trees and the desert and the fields is almost like working with a person, the universe; they are all in tune.”

Over the years the Tohono O’odham people have lost much of their desert agricultural culture. They were once self-sufficient and now many are no longer farming, but interest remains. Sky hosts workshops to delve deep into preservation and extended knowledge of the culture. He teaches life lessons by sharing the entire growing, harvesting and preservation process of making ga’iwsa, a roasted corn soup created from huñ, a smaller indigenous corn with a 60-day growing cycle that can be preserved year-long.

“Our youth want to know what’s out there and we need to teach them. That is what I plan to do and that’s what I’m doing now. I’m teaching. By teaching, I’m also learning,” Sky said during one of his presentations. “I want to show how important growing your own food is, what traditional food is and knowing how far it goes back. The corn is in our stories, it’s been with us the whole time, almost like a relative, but if we are not planting it, that relationship doesn’t exist. We’re losing it,” he said.

Over the past year, Sky also served as an intern in the student success center, helping the outreach service coordinator to promote the college. The success center is a key to student retention.

“I really admire him, he is really into our Himdag (our culture) and he is always willing to learn more,” Lopez said. “It is very unique for a young man to take that [his corn-growing project] up. He’s really passionate about dealing with our indigenous foods. It’s our Himdag, our way of life. In the process, he’s learning our Himdag and keeping it alive.”

“This is all we ate, besides what is seasonal out in the desert. We still have the ability, the seeds, the soil and the ability to be self-sufficient. We don’t need to depend on any grocery stores, commodities or other food sources but ourselves.”—Sky