Equity is a core value at AKA. Equity involves promoting justice, fairness, and allocating resources and opportunities for the communities we serve. AKA allocates resour
ces and time to hire and train American Indian college students. Opportunities advance equity for students, their families, and future generations and recognizes the findings from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report, Broken Promises: Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans.
I met with Sadie Posey to talk about her experiences as an intern at AKA. Sadie has worked
as an AKA intern for three years and is a chemistry major at Montana State University Bozeman.
How has the internship experience helped you?
There are a million ways. The student evaluation internship has helped me succeed in my academic work and in real world situations.
Academically, the internship helped me develop a solid work ethic, project management skills, time management and writing. I am a STEM major, and I do not get to write as much as I would like to. I get to develop other skills besides what I am learning in school…like collecting and analyzing data. This helps me as a STEM major because I work a lot with quantitative data.
In the real world it has helped me be around my community more. This helps me with relationships with people in the community, with youth, and just understanding others. It gives me better social skills and communication skills that help me grow as a person….really just to be more successful overall.
What would life be like without the internship?
Without the internship…well I do not think I would be as developed for success. I would be relying on academics, but academics only take you so far… in an academic Eurocentric way. It has helped me develop as a person; I don't think I would find that any where else.
What have you learned about recovery?
I knew about recovery because my family works in recovery. I have always known about mental health, but this has grown my knowledge. I've learned important things that everyone should know. I have always been aware of generational trauma. I have become more understanding of trauma and how it impacts people. I see the importance of staying sober. Being your best self is for you and your community.
Healthy coping. Facing issues. I've learned the importance from not running away from issues so that I can be better, be healthier. I have learned about how to be a good person from the people that I work with. Recovery is for everyone. There is something that we can all learn from recovery.
What are some key takeaways about internships that you want people to know?
I am not only trained in just STEM. It is important to do things like this. These are my people. This is my community. This internship gives insight into people's lives. We learn about what is important in life, in recovery, and mental health. Internships set up a successful path for youth in the community. Internships give you key things that will take you further in life.
AKA Takeaway #1: We will continue to grow our student internship model because it gives knowledge, opportunities, and real-world skills that students can take with them on their journey.
AKA Takeaway #2: Recovery is for everyone. We know the reciprocal benefits of peer recovery support. These reciprocal benefits also apply to our student interns working in recovery settings.
Together we can create opportunities that build equity and promise for future generations. - AK
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