Gabrielle Allan

Yá’át’ééh! My name is Gabrielle Allan, but most call me Gabby. I am from Gallup, New Mexico and am both Navajo and Turtle Mountain Chippewa. I graduated from the Brown School in 2014. I arrived in St. Louis in August of 2012. I had never visited the area or the school so I walked into my Master’s program not knowing what exactly to expect. I had previously been in touch with Maisie Herman, another Buder Scholar, who helped me figure out my classes and helped me get acclimated to the area. It was very helpful for me to have a mentor in my first months there. I may have left without that support.

I was introduced to the Kathryn M. Buder Center in the first week of classes with a Buder Scholar orientation. I met the staff and other Buder students, and also began to get acclimated with the program and its expectations. I also met Pete Coser, the Program Manager, who would become a mentor to me and good friend. He helped me get my foot in the door early and interview for a research assistant position with the Center for Social Development. I ended up getting that position and working with the Financial Capability
and Assets Building Project that was developing a financial literacy curriculum for use in tribal and historically black colleges for my entire grad school career.

I entered graduate school with a focus in Children, Youth, and Family but soon after beginning my foundation courses, I realized that traditional social work was not the path for me. I asked my peers and mentors what my options were in terms of individualizing and came to the conclusion that I would create my own concentration entitled Non-Profit Management in Native American Communities. I worked with David Patterson, my advisor and Sarah Nelson, a Buder Scholar who had individualized, and came up with the courses to fulfill my degree. It was approved during my second semester of study.

During my time of study, not only was I exposed to new knowledge and ways of thinking, I was also growing into an adult and a young professional. I developed my interpersonal skills, gained  knowledge about evaluating and managing social services programs, and learned how to apply my studies to actual Native American communities. The best course I took in my time at the Brown School was “Community Development in Indigenous Communities” with Miriam Jorgensen. We learned about how different tribal communities developed programs to help their people and create a bright future for them. We even got to take a trip to the Meskwaki Nation and saw what programs were in place to support their community. This hands-on experience really helped me to understand how my social work knowledge could be applied to an actual tribal community.

There were hard times and doubt that I endured but I was always brought back to my goals by the support I gained with the Buder Program. The Buder Scholars Program was much more than a support for students. It became a family and a community. St. Louis is a city that doesn’t have a visible Native community and that felt alienating at times. But the Buder program kept me grounded with connections to Native communities, and Native ways of thinking. It also helped me to make some of the best friends I now have (shout out to Jonelle Battise!). I would not have finished my program without the support of my Buder Family.

I am now an Academic Advisor for Native American Students at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico. My studies, experiences, and relationships have helped me to provide better support to my students. I do credit much of my preparation to the Brown School and the Buder Center. It was an invaluable experience that has helped shape me into the passionate young professional I am today.

Ahéhee’ (Thank you) to the Buder Center for everything it has done for me.