'What You Do Here Matters:' Ashley Claw's Journey from a Navajo Reservation to Duke Graduation

Ashley Claw's parents and grandparents grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Ashley remembers visiting Duke for the first time as a part of a program designed to introduce native students to Duke. "I was thinking this school is way beyond what I thought I could ever achieve," Ashley remembers.

But she found success at Duke. She majored in public policy and was instrumental in growing Duke's Native American Student Alliance. "I definitely say to any 'first gen' students who want to come to Duke, 'Come, we need you here. Don't ever doubt that you're not enough, or you're not the type of student who comes to Duke, because I thought the same things.

But in my four years here, I discovered I am what Duke needed.'" Ashley Claw plans to return to the reservation and apply her policy skills.

Producer: Carol Jackson
Music: Blue Dot Sessions & Bensound / Creative Commons https://www.sessions.blue/ https://www.bensound.com/