When Reanna Yazzie walks onto the NAU campus each day, she doesn’t just carry a backpack filled with notes and books. She also carries the stories of her people, the hopes of her young son and the determination of someone who has returned to school to make a difference. As a Navajo student pursuing a degree in anthropology, this Distinguished Senior from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is bridging the past, the present and the future.
Yazzie was raised in Dennehotso on the Navajo Nation but attended school in Flagstaff from a young age. After studying for three years at Coconino High School and graduating from Ponderosa High School, she joined the workforce to get the money she needed to continue her studies. However, soon after she started working, her mother became ill, and she became her mother’s sole caretaker. In 2013, her mother passed away, leaving Yazzie on her own.
“She was my only parental figure since my father was not in my life,” Yazzie said. “Although I had a big support system with my aunts and uncles, losing my mother was heartbreaking. I slowly returned to life after I had my son in 2015.”
After staying at home with her son until he was 3 years old, Yazzie started working at Walmart as a cashier and was later promoted to customer service. This job helped support them and allowed her to develop social skills and experience with conflict resolution. But things shifted again for Yazzie in 2021 when she received a phone call that changed the course of her future.
“My cousin got a job at Coconino Community College (CCC) and started taking classes,” Yazzie said. “She called and asked if I wanted to go back to school and get a degree. It was the middle of the pandemic, and I wanted to do something productive with my time. Since I was at home all day, I enrolled and started taking classes online.”
Starting a new journey
After completing her associate’s degree, her advisor and a couple of her professors encouraged her to continue her studies at NAU. Being part of the TRIO Student Support Services program that facilitates student transfer from two-year to four-year colleges made Yazzie’s transition from CCC to NAU a smooth one.
“I had a really good advisor at CCC who got me in touch with an advisor at NAU,” she said. “They encouraged me to continue my studies at NAU. Once here, I’ve had good professors and advisors who look out for me and just keep me on track.”
Majoring in anthropology was an easy decision for Yazzie. When taking her general studies classes at CCC she realized she had taken a lot of religion and anthropology courses that she enjoyed. She was also encouraged by Lisa Doskocil, one of her professors at CCC.
“She was very encouraging of me being an anthropologist and also reminded me how much of a unicorn a Native American could be in the anthropology field and how my insight would be very valuable, especially in the Southwest region,” Yazzie said.
Protecting water and preserving history
When not in class or with her son, Yazzie works as a research assistant in the Water, Society and Policy Lab at the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). Her research focuses on one of the most pressing issues facing her community: access to water on the Navajo Nation.
“I was hired through ITEP to work with Lucero Radonic,” Yazzie said. “It is a multiple-faceted project where different water actors are interviewed throughout the Colorado Plateau regarding water in Arizona to try and understand their view and definition of water security. I help transcribe all the interviews and collect all the data to see where the connections are. We are working on determining the type of leadership the future of water conservation may require. I love working on stuff like this, especially when it pertains to my area. This project heavily involves the Navajo Nation because it is a huge part of Arizona and there is a lot of water insecurity on the reservation.”
Yazzie said she loved learning about water policies and their history, which is not surprising, since during the summers she works preserving history at the Museum of Northern Arizona.
“My TRIO advisor set me up with an internship there,” she said. “This was great since I was able to see future careers and talk to anthropologists who work outside of academia. I have learned about their background, why they loved their career and how they feel like they have made changes in this region.”
For the past three summers, she assisted the museum’s head of public programs with the Heritage Festival, which honors the Native American traditions of the Colorado Plateau with art, dance and conversations. From contacting artists to getting booth spaces, booking food vendors and working with nonprofits, she has learned all the logistics involved in making this event happen.
After festival season comes the museum’s summer camps, which she also enjoys coordinating.
“The camps are for different age groups,” Yazzie said. “They have cabins, a beautiful garden, walkways to hike and they focus on science and Indigenous knowledge. They incorporate Indigenous teachings, like making dye from plants, learning how to make rope and learning about the people from this region. I just think it’s a really cool program.”
She also shadows her colleagues and works on the museum collections, which goes along with her academic passion and her commitment to preserving Native voices.
Looking ahead
Yazzie sees two possible paths in her future.
“I would love to do fieldwork—research that I really connect with—or go toward education,” she said. “I enjoy my work with the Museum of Northern Arizona and would love to find a city where they have something similar so that I can use my skills and keep learning.”
What advice would she give those non-traditional students who are thinking about going back to school?
“I would say not to be afraid, to not be nervous about being an older student in a setting where there’s a lot of younger people,” Yazzie said. “I personally think that I wouldn’t have done as well if I went to school straight from high school, just because I feel like I was not in the right mindset to take things as seriously. When you go back as an older student, you really know this is worth your time and you really put all the effort into it. It may be a little awkward at first, but it’s not going to stay that way. People are friendly, especially the younger generation. They don’t mind having conversations and helping you if you need help. It takes dedication once you get started and it’s going to be hard to maintain, but you have to be persistent and not give up.”
Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu