Meet & Greet with Sun Devils

November 3, 2017

Roberto A. Jackson

Gila River Indian News

Azcentral.com recently reported that the enrollment for Arizona State University has topped 100,000 students with over 51,000 at the Tempe campus. If you sort through those several thousands, you’ll find a small but distinctive number of students who are also enrolled as members of the Gila River Indian Community. Forty-three GRIC members attend ASU and with the assistance of GRIC Student Services and the American Indian Student Support Services program, Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis and representatives from the Community convened at the Tempe campus for a day of outreach and discussion with the students. 

“The Community has invested in your education and we don’t want to lose all this experience that you’ve gained here,” Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis told the students in hopes that they will have opportunities in GRIC following their education. 

Gov. Lewis also discussed the need for GRIC members to help manage important resources in scientific fields like agriculture and hydrology. 

Tribal Education, Human Resources, the Executive Office and Gila River Health Care was available at the campus in Discovery Hall (formerly the agriculture building) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with GRIC students stopping to chat with the representatives and helping themselves to a lunch provided by the Community. 

The engagement went a long way to strengthening the connection between the students and the Community according to Jacob Moore, Assistant Vice President of Tribal Relations at ASU. “I think it’s good for the students that they get that kind of support,” said Moore.