NASA strives to create a home for underrepresented Native students

As students trickle in for the Native American Student Assembly’s meeting on a regular Wednesday evening, the group gathers for another round of “sweet grass and snake bite,” where members share a good and bad thing about their week. 

However, in a sea of birthday parties, brutal exams, family visits and clumsy mishaps, one sweet grass and snake bite looms over. 

Snake bite: In lieu of its large student body, less than 1% of students who attend USC are Native American. 

Sweet grass: Native American students can rely on NASA for community and a proper safe space.

NASA, previously known as the Native American Student Union, was founded in 2017. During this time, NASU operated under the religious center because the assembly lacked the space and resources necessary to establish itself as a cohesive organization. It wasn’t until 2020 that NASA became what it is today. 

Extreme efforts were made last year for NASU to receive recognition from the Undergraduate Student Government.

“Before us, USG was very much geared towards groups that have a lot of representation and a lot of presence on campus, which is understandable because the student government is there to represent the students,” said Maracea “Mesa” Chase, executive director and co-founder of NASA. “However, it felt like a space that was specifically made for underrepresented groups to not succeed.” 

Each year, USG allocates a budget to multiple organizations on campus. With their recognition, the assembly could expand and have access to more resources, carrying out more events and activities. 

A petition was made to fight for NASA’s spot on USG, and the organization went through a long and strenuous process of getting enough signatures to properly be considered. 

“[It] was a really big effort and a lot of very kind people helped us with that transition and helped us get into student government,” Chase said. 

Eventually, their hard work paid off, with the organization becoming a USG-recognized organization in the beginning of last year. NASU officially changed to NASA, and the organization became hopeful for what was to come, as it now had the resources to do the work it always wanted to do. 

But, after its integration into USG, NASA was left to tackle an even bigger hurdle, one that was completely out of the University’s control — a global pandemic. 

The progress NASA made quickly halted, as schools across the country scrambled to transition to an online setting. The coronavirus affected everyone, and NASA was no exception to this. 

Figuring out how to navigate that space was very much a struggle, according to students. 

“It was definitely a learning adjustment. Like many other student groups on campus, it was hard to get new students involved,” Chase said.  “Even though it would seem like being on an online space, it would be easy to reach out to people, I think the lack of being in-person made a lot of things intimidating.”

Despite these circumstances, Chase said members of NASA were still able to support each other and offer community and explained how these hard circumstances allowed them to connect like never before. 

“Even though we weren’t necessarily doing really big events, it still very much felt like a very supportive and thriving community,” Chase said. 

NASA’s members come from a variety of different backgrounds and origin stories. Some spent their entire lives growing up on a Native American reservation, while others found themselves dismantling the assimilation their families were forced to go through. 

Her mom, being a part of the Navajo tribe, and her dad, a member of the Hopi and Lakota Sioux tribe — both growing up on reservations — knew they wanted to provide their children with the same experience. 

Chase is grateful that she was able to have the opportunity to be surrounded by a community that was constantly rooting for her.  

“There is nothing like being able to connect with your community in a way that I have had the privilege to be able to,” Chase said. “Just being able to be surrounded by people who are so very genuinely rooting for you, who are there to always provide food, shelter, give you some advice, help you learn more about your culture or speak your language with you. It’s just very close to my heart.”

Coming to USC, Chase found it difficult adjusting to a space where she wasn’t fully surrounded by people who looked and spoke the same language as her. 

“My big thing about NASA as a whole is very much pushing community for those who want to learn more or who identify as Native American,” Chase said. “Having no one to talk to, that very much is a detrimental thing. So, my priority is being able to create that community for people [and] increasing visibility of our community and our native and indigenous voices and uplifting them is amazing.”

As executive director, Chase takes her role seriously, supporting NASA members by advocating for their issues and being a person to lean on for support.

“My whole thing about coming to college and pursuing a higher education is to support my people, and support those stories and perspectives because they matter; they make a difference,” Chase said.  

However, students like Raegan Kirby, NASA secretary and member of the Ojibwe Chippewa tribe, had quite a different experience. 

Kirby grew up in Orange County, Calif., yet a majority of her extended family lives in Missouri or Michigan, choosing to distance themselves from their Native American heritage and assimilate into American culture. Kirby and her cousins are the ones who have really taken it upon themselves to reclaim their native roots. 

Growing up, her great grandfather was the Chief of her family’s tribe and had the opportunity to name all his grandchildren Native names, giving Kirby the name of “Little Rock.” 

“Growing up, I told everyone that I knew that I was Native American,” Kirby said. “Whenever we did talk about it in elementary school, I’d be so excited and tell everyone everything that I knew.”

Despite being immersed in the culture as a child, Kirby was faced with other challenges. Having a white complexion, she was often told by others that she didn’t “look” Native American . 

Even with her exposure to her Native roots, as she grew older, Kirby found herself suppressing that part of her identity. 

“I felt like I didn’t have the initiative to talk on native issues and be proud of my heritage anymore because of my white privilege,” Kirby said. “I was just not one to speak on certain things. Of course, I would speak up here and there when I had the chance, but it wasn’t something I was outwardly prideful about.”

She slowly stopped wearing accessories that represented her culture, and the joy she felt as a kid from being Native American diminished. It wasn’t until fairly recently she rediscovered the pride she once felt. 

“I would say it was my senior year of high school that I started reclaiming that part of my identity, when I started learning that a lot of other Natives were going through the same thing as me,” Kirby said. “I feel like once I was educated about those issues and found other Natives, especially here at USC, that’s when I really felt like I was part of my heritage again.” 

While being insecure about her appearance at first, Kirby was able to quickly feel at home in NASA, as it offered her a space to be heard and understood. 

“When I came into this room I instantly felt a bit more comfortable. For me, I know it’s going to be a safe space to just sit with people and interact and feel seen,” said NASA member and social work and public health major Sarandon Gilbert.

With the start of a new school year, NASA is excited to pick up where it left off, conducting in-person meetings and events. Kirby looks forward to branching out into the community, interacting with Indigenous people in the Los Angeles area. 

According to Chase, one of NASA’s most memorable experiences was the Intertribal Education Collaborative, which aims to make Native American youth aware of the opportunities they have in higher education. 

Students, faculty, family members and prospective students gathered that day, creating a comforting atmosphere for Native students on campus — the first time such an event had occurred on a large university campus. 

“It was amazing,” Chase said. “Just being able to be on campus in one of the buildings and hearing people talk rez talk and hearing people from my home, going up to them and saying hello in Navajo and having a small conversation. That’s an experience I never would have imagined to have at a place like USC.”

NASA hopes to continue on this trajectory, attracting more Native students, hosting events such as the USC Prospective Native American Trojans Webinar and making them feel like they have a home here at USC.