Alyssa Parkhurst joins the Tiwahe Foundation staff as a Migizi Intern

Hello, my fellow living beings! First and foremost, I wanted to express my gratitude in being able to become a part of the Tiwahe Foundation team during my summer internship with Migizi. I am grateful for this opportunity to join Tiwahe in serving our community.  My family comes from the Red Lake Nation. I’m a life-long resident of Saint Paul, Minnesota. I graduated high school in 2019, where I also did Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) at Saint Paul College. I’m a sophomore at Augsburg University, and intend to graduate in the Spring of 2023. I am an Act Six Scholar, and was elected Vice President of Augsburg’s Indigenous Student Association. I plan to double major in American Indian Studies and Psychology. Some of my hobbies include volleyball, powwow dancing, and gardening. I am an old-style jingle dress dancer, and love to dance for the people. I’ve played volleyball for the past 7 years, on both my middle and high school teams. I love everything that comes with gardening — planting, weeding, harvesting, and everything in between.  I’ve worked many jobs. Most recently, I worked at the American Indian Family Center for the summer of 2019 through Migizi as a Communications and Development Intern. I learned different aspects of communications and development, and I also worked with our youth program there, making healthy lunches with the kids, taking them on hikes, and being active with them.  During my first year of college, I also volunteered 30 hours of time at the American Indian Family Center, and then was contracted as the Intergenerational Healing Garden Coordinator. Unfortunately, I did not get to do much with this position, because of all the quarantine stuff that happened this spring. However, I did get to work at the Saturday tutoring sessions, helping to tutor the youth, and providing a safe space for them to come on the weekend.  I look forward to sharing my skills and knowledge with the Tiwahe Foundation, and I am excited to deepen my skill sets moving forward.  -Alyssa Parkhurst