Career Exploration Camps Testimonials

Student from the Navajo Nation:
"I participated in the 2020 NM Tech Summer STE2M Experience because I would like to go to New Mexico Tech for Civil Engineering when I graduate from high school, the courses I picked will help me achieve my goal. Participating helped me on my path to college because it takes place at New Mexico Tech which is where I want to go, and the courses I picked will help me in becoming a Civil Engineer. The courses I picked are mathematics and physics."

Student from the Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe supported by IRD to attend the 2021 YRMC:
"The 2021 Youth Ranch Management Camp at the CS Cattle Co. was very impactful for me because I had the opportunity to go and meet new people and hear them talk and teach us all about what they are passionate and knowledgeable about. One of my favorite days was day 2 or beef day. That day we went to a local meat processing plant where we were able to learn about what it really takes to run a successful meat processing plant. We then got back to the cattle ranch and we were able to learn how to pull a calf, how to AI (artificially inseminate) a cow, and were able to dissect a cow's placenta. That night we were able to become Beef Quality Assurance certified. That night I was also named the top hand which I got a buckle for. While Day 3 was all about marketing and how we should be managing our money to stay above the debt. On day 4 we went to the shooting range and had some fun there for a while. All throughout that week every evening we had been working in our assigned groups working on our own ranch plans with what was taught that morning. My team’s ranch was Hat Creek Cattle Co. we were running a yearly hunting program, a cow calf, yearling, and a farming operation. Through all of this we took what we knew and put them all together to make this ranch run and grow the way we want. With everything we were taught we would also be trying to apply this to our ranches/farms at home. I would just like to say I do appreciate everything that the IRD has done for me to go to this camp and look forward to future opportunities to work with IRD."

In collaboration with the University of New Mexico and Laguna Middle School, Indian Resources Development supported career exploration opportunities for the following middle school students.

Laguna Middle School located in Laguna, N.M. was the school that participated in Energy Day via Zoom from May 6 - May 13, 2021. The UNM Engineering Student Success Center and UNM American Indian Science & Engineering Society student organization were the leads for this opportunity. The focus of Energy Day was to introduce the concepts of renewable energies.

At the conclusion of Energy Day, the students and teachers were asked about their experiences. Below are some of the statements about their experience:

“In speaking with my students immediately after and three days following the workshop they maintained their interest in further exploration of solar energy, science, and engineering. The students, after the breakout sessions felt like it was okay to dream, even encouraged to try something different. Many felt safe to ask “crazy” questions or propose a “crazy” answer and to collaboratively, letting ideas run wild. My students were exposed to new opportunities and saw a possible future and saw themselves in these university students.” – Michael Gavlak, GATE Teacher, Laguna Middle School

“I enjoyed making and testing out the solar car. This was a very fun and educational experiment, I feel like this was a little practice for future environmental engineers, like me.”

“The workshop affected me in a positive way, because this was a very fun experience and I will learn more from it. I believe that this experiment will be a kickstart for all of the people of kids that would like to be environmental engineers.”

“Yes, this was a very interesting topic that I would like to explore. Experiments like these have a lot of potential for future engineers.”
– Jayden, 6th Grade, Laguna Middle School

“The activity that I enjoyed the most was the building of the wind turbine. I was fascinated by the way the wind power could generate electricity to make the red light at the bottom glow.”

“They gave us a lot of good information that would be very useful in the future if I were to work in that field. I would use this knowledge in the future by giving advice to different people that would like to go into this field where I think that it would be useful to them.”

“Yes, I would definitely like to discover more opportunities on other engineering projects that deal with alternative energy. The project that I would like to do the most, if we were to get another opportunity again, would be on geothermal energy.”
– Tagoya, 7th Grade, Laguna Middle School

“What I enjoyed the most about the solar car was how the students interacted with us and asked us questions like how the solar panels worked or asked how it works. They also made sure that we understood how it works if we didn’t know the answer.”

“The activity was very interesting because I always see solar panels or wind turbines but I never know how they work and when they explained how the energy was converted into electricity I was so fascinated. A way I can use this in the future is if I ever study for renewable energy sources I would have a decent understanding of how turbines turn constant energy into electricity.”

“Yes, I would like to learn more about renewable energy sources and the differences between them and if they work well for some things and not so well for others.”
– Ezekiel, 8th Grade, Laguna Middle School