My journey is personal, but my work is for everyone.

Sam’s chosen career path is all about words – using words to teach, to change hearts and minds, to rewrite truthful history, to document and preserve culture and language, and to shape the future. Sam’s vision for all Native people is to have a voice, and he wonders what our world would look like today if Native voices had been included in the growth and evolution of our country.  

As an English major at Princeton University, Sam strongly believes education is the pathway to elevating Native voice, and that it is imperative Native and Indigenous voices are present in our educational systems. Oftentimes during Sam’s educational journey, he struggled with not seeing himself anywhere in his school experiences, which resulted in his dropping out of high school.  

 Sam soon realized the pathway to having a voice started with completing his education. “The first step is to complete our educations and introduce ourselves and our voices into educational institutions,” says Sam, who will use both his education and his mastery of words to challenge the status quo of silencing Native voice.     

“I most look forward to sharing my voice as a native person. When I think about what I have to share personally … I think that I have something to share in the room.”