CHADRON – Chadron State College student Megan Cawley is the December Project Strive/TRiO Student of the Month.

Cawley, a junior from Bayard, Nebraska, said she chose CSC because of the surrounding community. Cawley said Chadron reminds her of Bayard, providing her with the comfort of a small town, but with more opportunities and activities.

Cawley hopes to graduate in December 2024 with a degree in elementary education. She plans to add a minor in special education or obtain a coaching endorsement before she graduates.

After graduation, Cawley plans to work as a substitute teacher, allowing herself time to find a school district that she enjoys. She likes the opportunity this would provide her to learn about different schools and their surrounding communities while seeking long-term employment as a third or fourth-grade teacher. Cawley plans to obtain her substitute teaching license in the coming school year.

She currently works at the after-school program at Chadron’s Intermediate School, an experience she said has helped her learn the age group she enjoys working with the most.

“I’ve always liked working with younger kids,” Cawley said, “but I’ve learned to enjoy this age group specifically because of their level of development. They’re at an age where they still think school is fun, but they have more focus than a kindergartener.”

Cawley values conversations with students in the program and credits them for encouraging her toward a teaching career.

“I’ve been surprised at the intelligent conversations I’ve had with those students. Getting to know them and working with them has helped me push through continuing to pursue my major,” Cawley said. “Getting to bond with those kids is very rewarding and helps me keep my end goal in mind when schoolwork gets tough.”

Cawley also credits Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Eric Rapp for helping her when she’s been doubtful about her education path.

“Dr. Rapp is my adviser and I had a class with him my first semester here. It was a rough time for me and he helped me through a lot of stuff during that time,” Cawley said.

Rapp notes Cawley’s responsibility and growth during her college career.

“Megan is going to be a wonderful teacher,” Rapp said. “She has taken on responsibilities as head-on and is succeeding at every turn. I first met Megan in an advising session in the fall semester of her freshman year. She has stopped by my office every semester since then to double-check that she is on track and to talk about future options in the teaching profession. In these visits, I have seen her gain confidence and grow academically as a pre-service teacher.”

Rapp also mentions his experience with Cawley as a student in one of his courses.

“When I had Megan in the Technology for Educators course, she always did high-quality work and what caught my attention was how skilled she was using different forms of technology,” Rapp said. “I have seen Megan whip around on her iPad showing me some of her class projects and moments later open her laptop and demonstrate an entirely different skill set. I’m confident Megan will be taking some of these technology skills with her into her future classroom where she will create engaging Technology Enhanced Learning opportunities for her students.”

Cawley is a member of the Education Club, which she describes as helpful to its members.

“They provide helpful resources and information, such as an email list with a list of schools currently paying their student teachers,” Cawley said.

When Cawley isn’t at work or focusing on her coursework, she enjoys reading and playing video games, both hobbies she said she learned to enjoy at a young age.

“I feel like I haven’t stopped reading since I learned how,” Cawley said. “When I was in elementary school I always loved being in the library, and video games are kind of the same way for me. My uncle let me play on his XBox once and I was hooked immediately.”

English students learn from Braiding Sweetgrass

CHADRON – Students in Dr. Matthew Evertson’s Fall capstone course Outside: Your Self in the World (CAP 469E) read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. He said the English and Humanities motto Get Outside Yourself served as the inspiration for the name of the course. The capstone is an Essential Studies requirement.

Evertson said he chose to have his class read the book because of its current popularity in the world of ecological studies, as well as its focus on Indigenous ways of knowing and traditional ecological knowledge.

The capstone course objectives include gathering a wide variety of disciplines and viewpoints into a wide-ranging exploration based upon the notion of getting outside or forcing students to explore something new, something disruptive to common experiences or perceptions, something that forces them to confront new information, new ideas, and new ways of seeing the world.

“I’ve taught the book before in my Environmental Literature class, and I knew the students would have a strong reaction,” Evertson said. “It is a hopeful and beautifully written book about braiding these various ways of knowing together, and helping non-indigenous people learn more about these cultures that have traditionally close ties to the land and thrived in America well before the resettlement of the continent after colonial contact.”

While teaching regional and American literature, Evertson said he tends to teach Indigenous literature from an outsider or settler perspective. He has been expanding his knowledge of Indigenous people and cultures so he can include it in his teachings. He is also on the Indigenous Recognition and Reconciliation group working on a land acknowledgement statement.

Additionally, Evertson said the book addresses the course’s outside theme. Each chapter requires readers to see the world around them with a new perspective, driven by lessons Kimmerer shares throughout the book, primarily the teachings of plants.

One of Evertson’s students, Isabel Manchego-Pena, agrees the book has made an impact on her.

“It captured me as soon as I read it and I thought it was super interesting,” Manchego-Pena said.

Manchego-Pena feels Kimmerer’s writing expanded her love of nature and helped with her capstone project.

“She’s not only doing a beautiful job at writing, but she’s capturing that essence in her writing and she’s beautifying nature in a way that others can visualize it,” Manchego-Pena said. “I think a lot of people don’t see nature with the beauty and the appreciation that she has, and it’s encouraging. It helps with my capstone project, because we are supposed to get outside and be in nature. Her words have helped me guide my project, where I want to go and what I want to achieve with it.”

During Chadron State College’s Thanksgiving Tribute to Indigenous Peoples Nov. 20, Evertson’s students handed out copies of relevant selections of the book, including a section titled Allegiance to Gratitude, which includes the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address that Manchego-Pena described as easy to digest and understand.

The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address was developed and published following an English translation in 1993. It acknowledges connections between human beings and other living beings in the world as well as the waters, sun, moon, stars, and unseen spiritual forces.

Manchego-Pena says that picking a favorite chapter was a challenge for her, but she favors a section from the end of the book talking about the wendigo, a mythological creature or evil spirit originating from the folklore of Plains and Great Lakes Native Americans, as well as some First Nations.

“At the end of the book we read about the wendigo, which is a creature that they talk about during the winter times, and it’s like a cannibalistic beast and monster, and it originates in humans,” Manchego-Pena said. “It’s really interesting how the author uses that as a metaphor for selfishness and greed and how it can get the best of us and eat us alive.”