Many Wars Woman - Sheilah Naajiibah Dasher Looks to the Future

Ya’at’teeh shik’ei doo shi Dine’. I am Sheilah Naajiibah (Many Wars Woman) Dasher. I am a tribal member of the Navajo Nation and the first granddaughter to the Zuni Red Streak Clan, born for the Black People, maternal grandfather the Edge Water clan, paternal grandfather the Black People. (Naaneesht’ezhi tachii’nii, yinshi Naakaii le Zhinii’ dine’e ba’shishchiin, Tabaaha dashicheii aadoo’, Naakaii le Zhinii’ dine’e dashinali’) .

What this means to me is carrying on the pride and faith that has kept my people (shi Dine’) alive. Through the long walk back from our imprisonment at Fort Sumner, to the battlefields of foreign countries, to my own multitude of mini skirmishes as a minority educating her peers and professors on a University campus. I am proud to represent my self, family, people, and the Urban Native community as the reigning 2012-2013 Miss University California San Diego Powwow Princess (Miss Indian UCSD).

Holding the title of such a prestigious University and a proud community gives me the opportunity to speak to youth about the importance of higher education. As American Indians attending and graduating from Universities we are realizing the dreams of our ancestors. “My grandchild, education is the ladder. Tell our people to take it” by Dine’ Chief Manuelito, Hastiin Ch’ilhaajinii This dream was not to assimilate and forget our culture but to be able to preserve and protect ourselves, and be able to compete in a new world.

My maternal grandmother always stressed getting an education before having a family. She was not granted the same opportunities as I am. Being the proud mother of 10 children, she can not speak English fluently and only attended school till the 3rd grade. Although the education of our ancestors is a very different education, we still need to walk in both worlds.

One of the most important parts of changing American Indian negative statistics is through owning the power to represent our selves accurately in arenas where we were not allowed in. Granting us access to this elite club is the great equalizer of having an education.

Today I am proud to say although it has not always been an easy journey to get where I am, I did not always like school and had difficulty with a form of dyslexia. Through much hard work and support I now have an education that will follow me forever. The prayers of my grandmother and mother for me to become the first female in my immediate family to have a degree has come to pass. Being one of two Navajo women to be apart of the graduating class of 2012 at California State San Marcos has made me apart of a positive statistic. I hope I serve as a small inspiration to members of my community as a woman for positive change for our Native people. I will work to display the beauty and intelligence of Native American women by wearing the Miss UCSD Powwow title. Walk in beauty this coming school semester.