RIPPLES ON THE WATER: Understanding Giving Back among Native College Students

This chapter explores that giving back should be considered a strength and a positive outcome for Native college students. It illustrates how giving back may shape the college experiences of Native students. The chapter presents the suggestions for working with Native students and supporting them in their interests to give back. There are multiple ways to understand giving back through higher education as a gift. From one angle, Native students often express gratitude for the sacrifices, love, and support that family and community members, living and ancestral, have made for them. From another angle, higher education may be seen as providing time and space for Native students to reflect on their unique talents, skills, and interests and how they might be able to further develop those gifts toward serving others. Though the efforts Native students make to give back may sometimes feel like single drops in the bucket, they should remember every drop creates ripples on expansive waters.