I have been fortunate to have had some exciting opportunities as a college student. I was invited to the White House and held internships at the National Science Foundation and at a university in New Zealand. I was even featured in a public-television show called “The Code Trip” (part of Roadtrip Nation), in which two other computer-science students and I drove an RV across the United States, visiting top professionals in our field. My secret to landing these opportunities? It was my decision, as a Native American, to attend a tribal college — first Diné College, a Navajo institution where I earned my associate degree, and then Salish Kootenai College, in Montana, where I recently graduated.
