WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – A Sun Devil Alum, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, welcomed the 15 Wildcats eager to learn about the Navajo Nation.
A part of the U of A’s Cultural and Inclusive Experiential Learning Opportunities program is bringing a study abroad-like program to the students who may not be able to travel overseas.
The faculty and students stopped in Chinle, Ariz., to visit Canyon De Chelly and made their way to President Nygren’s office to learn more about his goals and what issues the Navajo Nation is experiencing.
“When I came into office, one of my biggest challenges, of many, I wanted to tackle was language revitalization,” said President Nygren. “We have thousands of high school students, and of those thousands, this year we doubled last year’s numbers, but we have 12 students pass the Navajo language proficiency test.”
President Nygren told the students that he tries to speak as much of the language as possible and does so every Thursday, giving an update entirely in Navajo.
One student asked President Nygren how he continues to practice sovereignty for the Nation and hang onto traditional values.
“A recent victory for us was the Water Rights Settlement I signed last week. Last year, when we were told that the United States does not need to quantify our water, it hurt, but because we are a sovereign Nation, I said you know, let’s quantify it ourselves. We have our water team who can where other tribes might not have that,” said President Nygren. “Water for us is life; it’s an everyday necessity for everyone, but for us, it’s a part of our traditions and culture, and we respect it as such.”
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