From Invisibility To Belonging: When Indigenous Students Finally Feel Seen with Mikala Chee, Sanoe Rapozo, and Abbey Woldt

In episode 273 of Behaviour Speak, we’re joined by Mikala Chee of the Diné (Navajo) Nation, Sanoe Rapozo, a Native Hawaiian, and Abbey Woldt of the Ho-Chunk Nation—three Indigenous undergraduate scholars whose work spans nursing, psychology, and neuroscience. Together, they share their journeys into higher education, the challenges of navigating predominantly Western academic systems, and their collaboration on a community research team (CRT) mentored by Dr. Anna Fetter and focused on developing culturally grounded measures of stress and mental health for Indigenous college students. This conversation explores what happens when Indigenous students not only enter academia—but begin to reshape it.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/r4guaLEQhi0

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Connect with Mikala

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikala-chee-14b36b387/

Links: 

All Our Kin 

https://www.instagram.com/allourkincollective/

SPEx Lab at Fort Lewis College

https://faculty.fortlewis.edu/amborgella/SPExLab/

Dr. Melissa Teehee's Tohi Lab

https://www.tohilab.org/

Connect with Sanoe

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanoe-rapozo/

Links:

The Past before Us: Moʻokūʻauhau as Methodology

https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-past-before-us-mo%CA%BBoku%CA%BBauhau-as-methodology/

Native American Indigenous Student Alliance

https://duke.campusgroups.com/naisa/home/

Karsh STEM Fellowship

https://undergrad.duke.edu/intellectual-community/student-faculty-engagement-office/karsh-stem-program/karsh-stem-scholars/

Connect with Abbey

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbey-woldt-8b09a0350/

Links:

https://teachlearn.wisc.edu/first-nations-cultural-landscape-tour/

UW Madison Native American Center for Health Professions

https://nachp.med.wisc.edu/

The Society For Indian Psychologists:

https://www.nativepsychs.org/

Native-to-Native Mentorship Program in Psychology

https://www.nativepsychs.org/sip-mentorship-program

Related Episodes:

Mentorship as Medicine with Dr. Anna Kawennison Fetter

https://www.behaviourspeak.com/e/mentorship-as-medicine-with-anna-kawennison-fetter-phd-edm/

Cultural Responsiveness in ABA: A Hawaiian Perspective with Dr. Naomi Tachera and Dr. Sara Sato

https://www.behaviourspeak.com/e/episode-245-cultural-responsiveness-in-aba-a-hawaiian-perspective-with-dr-naomi-tachera-and-dr-sara-sato/

Indigenous School Psychol