Lydia Yellow Hawk

Rosebud, South Dakota | Anthropology and Political Science Double Major

Student organization life on our regional campuses is vastly different than in Oxford because of the student population. Most of the forty clubs do smaller weekly programs that rely on walk-by traffic during the lunch hour. This context did not stop Lydia Yellow Hawk from shooting for the stars in her role as founder and president of the Native American Student Association on our Hamilton campus.

Lydia created successful large-scale programs that reached across multiple campuses and introduced students to Indigenous culture. Programs included an artist and activist, a traditional Medicine Man speaking about Indigenous healing practices, and a lecture about Guatemalan Mayans.

Lydia has also worked as a College of Arts and Science Ambassador on our Oxford campus, completed an internship where she conducted a community health needs assessment for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, and a second internship where she worked to help promote the Lakota language at the Lakota Summer Institute.

Lydia’s dedication has led to positive changes at our regional campuses and proved that in-depth programming can be done with a commuter student population.