New adviser helps native students navigate new culture

Familiar surroundings and faces can limit as well as comfort.

“One of the first things I tell students is, ‘You never know what you’re made of until you’re taken out of what you know,'” says Aaron Bird Bear, the new American Indian Academic Services adviser in the College of Letters and Science.

However, people are strange when you’re a stranger. For native students at any university, the institution’s culture can seem confusing and hostile, however unintentionally.

Indeed, enrollment figures for American Indians this year stands at 29, down by six from last year. In all, 190 American Indian graduate and undergraduate students registered at UW–Madison this fall.

Bird Bear would like to improve in these numbers, and in his position, which he has held since spring, he could do just that.

But the job will not be easy. American Indian students may come to campus with a complex assortment of social and academic issues that can show up in surprising and sometimes alarming ways, Bird Bear says.

“Of course there is the disparity between Indian and mainstream culture,” Bird Bear says. “But there also can be some discomfort between members of different tribes and between mixed-blood and pure-blooded Indians. Mixed-blood students may feel that they aren’t accepted anywhere.”

Tensions also can arise between reservation and urban Indians, he adds. “Reservation people usually come to campus with a strong sense of community that nonreservation students may not have. Those from the reservation may have a powerful need to connect with someone who has ties to their home community; a nonreservation roommate may not understand why.”

Academic as well as social waters might prove choppy, especially for a first-year student. Bird Bear’s rigorous training and stellar academic credentials make him an excellent resource and convincing role model for undergraduates.

Freshman Melissa Metoxen of the Oneida tribe says that three months into the semester, Bird Bear already has proved himself a valuable resource for her.

“He’s a guide for native students as well as an adviser,” says Metoxen, who plans on law school. “It’s good to know I have someone to turn to who understands the problems I may encounter.”

Bird Bear, whose mother is Dine (Navajo) and whose father is Mandan-Hidatsa, graduated in 1996 with a degree in physical oceanography from the University of Washington-Seattle after officer training in the Marine Corps. Between 1989-93 he attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he pursued an engineering course curriculum.

“You don’t find many Indians in science, and he’s the only Indian I have ever known who’s attended the Naval Academy,” says Ada Deer, director of UW–Madison’s American Indian Studies Program, which works closely with Bird Bear. “To get in you have to have excellent grades, and Naval Academy admissions people make sure applicants aren’t just bookworms or computer wizards.”

Bird Bear certainly qualified in academics and extracurricular interests. He made a name for himself in snowboarding, teaching the sport at a Vail, Colo., resort for a year. He and his board even appeared in a Coca-Cola ad. Bird Bear is also an avid world traveler whose journeys have taken him to Australia, the Caribbean and northern, southern and eastern Europe, “places I thought would be exciting,” he says.

Experiencing new lands, peoples and cultures brings depth to his understanding of his heritage and mainstream culture in the United States, he says, adding that he’s able to pass those insights along to his students.

“Students are looking for ways to understand an environment that’s alien to them. Creating a big picture helps new students understand how they might become more involved and active at the university,” he says. “Freshmen particularly need constant, positive affirmation of their academic achievements, coupled with guidance on how to lead a balanced collegiate life. Communication is paramount – it’s important to express ideas effectively that might grab and engage students. I also try to imbue them with a sense of how the university is constructed to enrich their minds. Analytical and critical thinking are taught in every classroom. Students challenge and polish these skills throughout their stay at UW–Madison.”

Bird Bear is in the process of establishing personal contact with all 133 native undergraduates at UW–Madison. Ultimately, he aims to help in any way he can so that all native students who want a university degree will be able to earn one.

“Native people need to access higher education and the opportunities a degree can provide,” he says. “No matter what tribe they belong to, natives live for the good. And a university education definitely can be one of those positive aspects in our lives.”