The Native American Student Association (NASA) works in collaboration with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) to create a sense of community and belonging among Native American Students at NC State. The focus of the organization is to study Native American culture and enrich campus awareness.
According to McKenzie Cummings, a fourth-year studying animal science and president of AISES, although the organizations are separate entities, the groups host all their activities together due to so much overlap in members.
“We actually host all of our meetings and things with the Native American Student Association, because basically, members of NASA are also [members of] AISES,” Cummings said. “We just now got our organization back up and running this year. It was inactive last semester, but we finally got it back up and running.”
Students can get involved by joining weekly meetings or activities, according to Cummings. The organizations have tables at almost every club fair and event.
“Every year we help with the Native American Heritage Month, and we have a powwow in the spring and other things,” Cummings said.
Although AISES is STEM-focused, the organization welcomes everyone, Cummings said. Every year, AISES takes part in the national leadership conference the organization holds.
“This year, I actually got funding for seven other students to go with me,” Cummings said. “So there’s an opportunity to travel out of state to go to the national conference. A few of the students that went with me ended up getting internships and other job opportunities from the conference. This year, we went to California, so there’s the opportunity for that.”
According to Cummings, NASA and AISES select a foundation to donate to each year. This year, the selected cause is missing and murdered Indigenous women in the U.S.
“We are having fundraisers and tabling and some of our proceeds from the powwow and other stuff will be going to that, and we’re also making and selling shirts to raise more money,” Cummings said.
According to Cummings, NASA and AISES held various events to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. On Nov. 16, NASA and AISES held a Triangle-wide art exhibit at Witherspoon Student Center, including students from UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and UNC-Charlotte.
“This month with Native American Heritage Month, we’ve had a chat and chew, and we’ve had different panels and tabling,” Cummings said. “We also have our last event, and it’s the cultural showcase where we have native arts and just other informative things that kind of do a showcase. And that’s usually within the Triangle area. So I have a lot of different friends from Duke, Carolina and Charlotte who are actually coming to have art displayed.”
According to Cummings, the goal of the organization is not only to build professional relationships, but personal relationships as well.
“Our main focus is, of course, to build personal and professional development, but also community, like we have off weeks where we don’t have our general body meeting,” Cummings said. “And we always try to get together whether it’s a study session, a destressor by coloring books. We actually just had one last week and we had native based coloring and art.”
The organizations are open to anyone interested in learning more about Native American heritage, Cummings said.
“It is Native-American focused, but really anyone who shows interest, like at all of our tabling events and stuff that we’ve done,” Cummings said. “Anyone can join, but it is a home where Native Americans can also come or any people of color, Indigenous people, Afro, anyone. That’s why it doesn’t matter your major, because we kind of just want to have a time when we can have [community with] people such as ourselves.”
More information about NASA and AISES can be found here.
