Fresno State hosts Native American Youth Conference

conference participants gathered on stage

Nearly 400 students and their families visited campus on November 4 for the Native American Youth Conference. Hosted by the Native American Initiative, this annual conference is open to all 6-12 grade students. In past years, students have traveled from as far as Bakersfield and Redding to attend. 

This was the first year that high school seniors attending the conference had the chance to win a $1,000 scholarship if they plan to attend Fresno State in Fall 2024. Four students from across the Valley received the scholarship in opportunity drawings that happened throughout the day. These scholarships will be offered again at next year’s conference as well.

Amber Esquivel, outreach counselor for the Native American Initiative, said, “The goal of the conference is to provide an opportunity for future students to explore the pathways toward higher education… I’m hoping the students will be inspired by what they see and what they hear about the idea of going to college [and] gain the comfort of knowing that they are not alone in higher education [when they] see someone like themselves at the university level.”

Esquivel (second from right) at New Bulldog Visit Day

This is not a small undertaking for Esquivel, as Native students face systemic barriers that affect access to higher education and degree completion and they continue to make up less than 1 percent of the Fresno State student population. 

Esquivel, a two-time Fresno State alumna, said, “I enjoy working within the Native American community and building relationships with individuals. We have a tight knit community where trust needs to be built and savored; we all have history and lineage connection. This is most important to me, as I come from the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians and carry on my grandmother’s legacy within Indian Education.”

“My goal is to continue to be the change and advocate on behalf of the Native American students at Fresno State, to enhance students’ experience in obtaining a four-year college degree… I want students to succeed in any passion that they want to pursue and help guide them in accomplishing their goals.”

The heart of all the work Esquivel puts into planning and running the Native American Youth Conference and supporting students year-round (helping them prepare and plan for college, leading their families through campus tours, co-advising the Neum Native American Student Association and managing a newsletter with resources for Native students) is held in the conference’s motto: Welcome, you belong here! 

A combination of traditional educational conference and cultural celebration, the Native American Youth Conference offered an opening prayer, a spoken word poetry performance and a cultural performance in addition to a resource fair, Q&A session and various informational workshops. 

The conference ended with all of the attendees joining together in a round dance—holding hands, dancing together in a circle around the room. Esquivel recalled this happening in previous years as well, saying, “[At the end of the day], students feel so at home that they don’t want to leave.”

For more information about the conference or the Native American Initiative, contact Amber Esquivel at esquivelamber@csufresno.edu or 559.278.4430. 

by MARISA MATA

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