When Tlingit Native and former Haines resident Crystalyn Lemieux decided to apply for the Fulbright Scholar program only two weeks before the deadline, her hope for winning was slim.

“I’m not a professor; I don’t have experience applying to those sort of things,” she said.

With a rigorous application process that others spend months preparing, she pushed through with an aspiration to help connect Native people across the world.

After graduating from the University of Alaska Anchorage in May 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in health science and a minor in psychology, Lemieux was inspired by a professor to apply.

The Fulbright Scholar program awards grants to about 1,600 American students each year to travel to another country to teach or complete research projects.

Lemieux said five or six professors helped her complete the application that included a statement of grant purpose, an affiliation letter from the professional she chose to work with, a personal statement, three reference letters, transcripts from her university and a biography.

Lemieux initially wanted to go to New Zealand and was looking for a professor there whom she could work with on a project that incorporated Native culture. After a week of searching, she met Tracy Penny Light, executive director of the Centre for Student Engagement and Learning Innovation at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada.

After a brief conversation with Lemieux, Light agreed to sponsor her.

“It was a stressful two weeks, but it just kept falling into place,” Lemieux said.

Lemieux submitted her finished application to the Fulbright website in October 2015. In April 2016 she was named a Fulbright Scholar, with the official announcement last month.

“No way, they must have made a mistake,” Lemieux thought. “I was in amazement.”

Lemieux will spend eight months at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C. She is required to present her project in front of a board at the end of her eight months. One of the Fulbright organization’s goals is for its scholars to develop international relationships.

She will work on a pilot project to help students develop e-portfolios, an electronic platform to upload documents, to share knowledge and ideas about Native culture.

Lemieux said Native people often share knowledge differently than people in other cultures. Information about Native history and traditions is commonly shared via word of mouth and isn’t written down. E-portfolios give Native people in Canada and across the world an opportunity to bridge that gap.

Lemieux and Light will work in collaboration with UAA Native Student Services to better connect students in Canada with those in the United States.

Lemieux said Native people in North America struggle with the concept of borders between countries. The distinction between Americans and Canadians often blurs the fact that Native people in both countries are connected and related.

Her goal is to help Native people acknowledge those ties and reconnect those groups. Lemieux said she’s excited to get to know the Kamloops community and become active in the Native culture there.

After her time in Canada, Lemieux said she’ll apply to graduate schools for a master’s degree in public health or health administration. Her status as a Fulbright Scholar should look good on graduate school applications, she said.

She would ideally like to do an internship with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium or the Southcentral Foundation. She’s interested in sharing knowledge and helping Native people heal from various types of trauma, as well as reconnecting people to the culture.

Lemieux graduated from Haines High School in 2009. Rene Martin, current high school principal, taught English to Lemieux during her first two years with the district.

“The thing that really strikes me is how diligent she was,” Martin said about Lemieux. “She wanted to make sure she learned; it wasn’t just about going through the motions.”

Martin said Lemieux always pushed herself, took higher-level classes and worked hard for the grades she earned.

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