By Andrea DeHaan & Alicia Richmond

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Located in the Four Corners region and spread across roughly 27,000 miles of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, the Navajo Nation is larger than 10 states and home to roughly half of the nearly 400,000 enrolled tribal members in what is now the most populous tribal nation in the U.S.

Utah State University’s Blanding Campus sits just outside the Navajo Nation boundaries in southeastern Utah. Comprised of nearly 70% Native American students, it provides a unique educational opportunity for members of the Navajo Nation, as well as other Native American tribes in the region, to earn a degree close to home. 

This is significant, because familial bonds and care for elders are important to many in the region. Time away from home, coupled with the remoteness of the reservation can oftentimes be a deterrent in the pursuit of education. The USU Blanding Campus is also one of only three residential campuses for Utah State, helping the university deliver on its land-grant mission to meet the needs of the state’s residents wherever they’re located. 

For the Students

When Christina Boone graduated with her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at the Blanding Campus in 2019, she never expected to teach elementary school at Montezuma Creek. 

But five years have passed and Boone, a fourth-grade teacher, is still there. 

“I had an offer to go to another elementary school when I graduated, but something told me to go to Montezuma Creek,” she says. “I love it here. I feel very welcome and it’s hard to think about leaving. I can’t believe that I am going on my fifth year.”

Teaching has been a great fit for Boone, even though she says Montezuma Creek Elementary — which is part of the San Juan School District — has its challenges. According to Boone, one of the biggest issues is teacher turnover, with many staying just one year before transferring out. 

“This is not good for the students,” she says. “They deserve a quality education.”

Located in the Four-Corners area of Utah, Montezuma Creek Elementary School was built on Navajo Nation tribal land and serves mostly Native American students. The school is also in the same district that Boone — who is originally from Navajo Mountain — attended during high school.

Attending school is a sacrifice for many of the students who attend Montezuma Creek. Some get on the school bus as early as 4:30 a.m. and travel up to two hours to arrive at the school. Much of the travel is on dirt roads and the kids are often tired when they finally get off the bus.

“Education is very important, but I try to support the students emotionally and mentally because some of them come from difficult situations in their homes,” Boone shares. “I want each of them to feel loved at school. I wanted to become a teacher because two of my elementary teachers knew my life situation and were adaptive to my needs. They made me feel accepted. I want to do the same for my own students.”

Boone, who is Navajo, or Diné, sees herself in many of her students. 

“I can especially relate to many of my female students who have to babysit their younger siblings. This was my life, too. I wanted to get a career and to see what was outside my community. I want these students to see that there is so much more in their world and many opportunities for them. My goal is to help students who want to go to college find resources to help get them there.”

She feels that having a USU campus in the community is important to the Navajo culture because being close to home and caring for ancestors is part of the Navajo way of life. The Blanding campus provides educational opportunities to many Native families, enabling them to stay at home while they study. 

Sylvia Read, the associate dean for accreditation and undergraduate studies and a professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, says Boone is making a visible impact in the community. 

“During her time as a student in the elementary education program, Christina showed herself to be truly passionate about serving the needs of students. She connected well with students, prepared well for her lessons, and was always willing to take on new challenges such as teaching new content and learning how to manage the classroom more effectively and efficiently,” Read says. “Now, as a teacher in the San Juan County School District, she is making an incredible impact and giving back to her community through her passion for teaching.”

For her part, Boone isn’t focused on the larger impact she’s making. She just wants to help her students be successful. 

“I didn’t know that I was making an impact,” she admits. “I tell the kids that you have routine … school is part of your routine for success in your life.”

Taking opportunities as they come is a concept Boone feels is key for her students to know when they leave her fourth-grade class. 

“Sometimes you need to explore what is out there in the world. Many of these kids don’t know life outside of Montezuma Creek. They can travel and see what experiences are in store for them,” she says. 

“I hope my students will go out and get their education. Most of my students live with their grandparents because their parents work far away. Navajos are bound to family and enjoy the love of our grandparents. It’s a sense of family to take care of relatives. I want them to know they can always come back to Montezuma Creek.”

Last year, Boone had another opportunity to move school districts. Her brother, who is also a teacher, sent her a text message one day and told her she should come work in his district. But that plea went unheeded.  

“I am perfect where I am,” Boone confesses. “I enjoy my colleagues. I feel very welcomed by the students. We have a great administrative team at Montezuma Creek. It’s where I am supposed to be.”

Overcoming Barriers

The college experience is a journey of self-discovery, often accompanied by trial and error, and burdened by the independence of becoming an adult. It involves learning to make one’s own decisions, generally, in the service of discovering a meaningful career path. 

Hunter Warren’s path was marked by challenges that would have deterred many. 

He spent his first year driving between USU’s Blanding campus and his home in Red Mesa, Utah — a small town on the Navajo Reservation. Warren faced daily commutes spanning hours and dealt with limited internet access — a stark contrast to the resources available to most students. Despite these obstacles, Warren’s drive to serve his community propelled him forward. 

“I wanted to be one of those people to motivate other people,” he explains. “Not everyone drops out, you know, I want to be that motive for the younger generation to keep on going, to keep on striving, to do better.”

A first-generation student, Warren (’23), the youngest of five, received encouragement from his parents and grandparents. They told him to make the most of his time in school and keep going even when things got tough. Now Warren, who works as a school-based mental health therapist, is the one encouraging others to keep going. 

His educational journey was more than academic, it was deeply personal. His decision to pursue social work was rooted in a desire to address pressing issues within his community, particularly around mental health, and he immersed himself in roles that allowed him to impact lives. What began as an interest in substance use counseling quickly turned, instead, to working with survivors of domestic violence and then to his current role working with school-aged kids. 

“I feel really good with the place that I’m in right now, because I really feel the sense [that I am] giving back to my community,” Warren says. 

With a master’s in social work, which he also earned at USU, Warren was among the first therapists to be hired under a new Utah Navajo Health Systems program in the Blanding-area schools. The program was designed to expand mental health services to rural areas, and Warren says, to build bridges between those services and the cultural attitudes surrounding social work in his community. 

“Growing up, we’re taught to not talk about the trauma, to not talk about mental health, because our elders believe that when you talk about it, you’re, you’re just bringing the negative energy with it,” he says. “But I think times are changing. We’re learning that it’s OK to talk about mental health and that talking about mental health is important. That’s the main reason we need more people trained in these positions, especially therapists, because [people] are starting to open up.”

Balancing Acts

Like Warren, Toni Pelt’s journey to higher education was marked by determination and resilience. As a non-traditional student, Pelt balanced family responsibilities, moves, and career changes while pursuing her academic degree. And like Warren, she was spurred on by a desire to do more for her community. 

Supported by influential USU professors like Charlie Bayles and CJ Sorenson, Pelt found her calling in social work and steadily progressed from earning an associate’s degree to completing her master’s at the Blanding Campus in 2023.

“What I wanted to do … was give back to my community here in White Mesa,” says Pelt, who described her fellow students and the social work faculty as a team. “We helped each other, pushed each other through.”

 Pelt’s commitment to serving the community stems from her experience working with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s education department. As a public-school liaison serving middle and high school students, Pelt witnessed firsthand the barriers hindering student success, including attendance issues and insufficient mental health resources. These experiences solidified her resolve to help students.

 As a student advocate for the San Juan County School District, Pelt now feels equipped with the skills needed to address the challenges students face. She currently alternates between Albert R. Lyman Middle School and San Juan High School, and she modestly describes her job as “checking in … seeing how they’re doing, [and] where I could help.” 

Bayles, on the other hand, calls Pelt an “asset” to the county. 

“Toni has worked to build strong collaborations between teachers, parents, and students,” Bayles says. “She has a knowledge of tribal policy, school district policy, and extensive knowledge of Ute Mountain Ute and Navajo culture.”

Today, Pelt continues to hold space for her family and her community. At the White Mesa Educational Center, she leans on both to organize traditional crafts workshops and cultural events to help preserve cultural identity and language. By engaging students, parents, and elders alike, Pelt is helping her neighbors bridge generational divides while fostering a sense of pride in her community.

“Toni and Hunter are pioneering what modern social work looks like in an era where self-determination and cultural integrity are no longer being ignored,” Bayles says. “The impact of their social work contributions will help strengthen tribal communities, one family at a time.”