A self-portrait by Megan Sekulich, a student at Miami University in Ohio through the Myaamia Heritage Award ProgramMegan Sekulich
As a freshman, Megan Sekulich, today a senior at the Miami University in Ohio, first learned the name of the Midwestern pawpaw tree in her Myaamia tribal language. The tree is called ahsiimišaahkwi in Myaamia, and Sekulich soon found out in her botany class that its scientific name is asimina triloba.
“I asked my professor where the name came from, and she said that a Native American tribe in the Midwest had called the tree something similar,” said Sekulich, who is a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. “I said to her my tribe, that was my tribe! I got so excited.”
But growing up north of Chicago, Sekulich often felt removed from her Myaamia heritage. Miami University was not her first choice college, yet her older cousin, who is also Myaamia, told her to look into the school’s Myaamia Heritage Award Program. Sekulich’s cousin was a part of the program and spoke highly of it.
“I came into the program not comfortable at all with my Native American identity,” said Sekulich, who is today 21 years old. “I didn’t even tell a lot of people in high school that I got a Native American scholarship. I felt like I just looked like a white girl with no knowledge about our culture. But coming here, being immersed in a Myaamia community and classes, has made me more confident in my own identity—and in declaring this part of my identity.”
Through a unique partnership between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University, the Myaamia Heritage Award Program covers four years of tuition and fees for students who are part of the Miami Tribe. But the program, which started in 1991 with three students, today offers more than just financial support alone to its 38 currently enrolled students.
“In the early years, it was very difficult to get people to come to Miami University—to the point where the Chief would call people he knew and ask them to come,” said Kara Strass, director of Miami Tribe Relations at the Myaamia Center at Miami University as well as a citizen of the Miami Tribe. “And there was not much here for them when they came. They didn’t really have a community, so the program was not especially successful.”
