COULEE DAM, Wash. — “Swirling” is a term that characterizes the
educational careers of many American Indian students; and Alvina Cawston,
Colville, portrays her own background that way. This expression refers to
dropping in and out of school or transferring from school to school — and
may actually increase the student’s chance of graduating.

Cawston spent two years at Fort Lewis College in Colorado, then a year at
Spokane Falls Community College in Washington before completing her final
two years at Eastern Washington University and receiving a bachelor’s
degree in psychology. This fall she will enroll at Oklahoma State
University to continue her pursuit of a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Cawston is unique in that she wanted to learn more about why Indian
students stay in school or, conversely, why so many drop out before
graduating. That led her to a senior research project to investigate what
problems Indian students experience in college and what steps might be
taken to help ensure success. She’s a McNair Scholar, a nationwide program
which encourages minorities and low-income students to go into graduate
programs by helping with writing, speed reading, graduate applications and
various other tasks. The hope is that more will succeed at the graduate
level and return to teach in colleges and universities, where they can
assist others with similar backgrounds.

One question she researched was whether there are different success rates
between students from traditional Indian families and Indian students
raised in a more mainstream society. Did either group feel more pain
associated with college than the other? Did American Indian students have
different needs than students with other backgrounds? Did the problems
change or accelerate at the different grade levels in college?

About 180 American Indian students attend Eastern Washington University.
There is a Native American Center on campus as well as a professor, Roger
Jack, Colville, who is in charge of recruiting Native students. Cawston
sent questionnaires to each of the 180 students either via e-mail or
regular mail, and surveyed the school’s American Indian alumni. She also
surveyed a percentage of the non-Native student population to provide a
basis for comparison.

Only fully completed questionnaires were used. The research is not yet
complete because data are still coming in, and the numbers are admittedly
too low to make statements of absolute certainty, but some interesting
trends are developing.

Based on previous research done by others, Cawston anticipated that higher
levels of cultural pain and assessed learned helplessness would be
experienced by those students classified as having a traditional
background. The results confirmed those anticipations, as traditional
students rated roughly twice as high as the assimilated students in both
categories. The surprising result was that assimilated students also scored
substantially lower than European Americans in each of those two
categories.

Previous research also supported the hypothesis that traditional Native
students would have lower grade point averages, greater rates of “swirling”
and higher class drop-out rates. None of those hypotheses proved to be true
in Cawston’s research.

“I’m finding that mental health variables may be the most important factor
in determining if Native Americans will succeed in higher education,”
Cawston said. “Higher education may need to look at these needs by
providing places to go to say prayers, to be with other Native American
students. They need the support of other Native Americans to remain.” She
added, “GPA may not be as important in how successful a student will be:
support may be a better indicator.”

The opportunity to obtain experience in the research process is important
to undergraduates, and the work Cawston has done would nearly qualify for a
graduate degree. Cawston has made presentations at three conferences in the
region and spoke to the Society of Indian Psychologists in June.

Jackie Geddes, Lakota, is a counseling psychologist at EWU and served as a
research mentor to Cawston. She had nothing but praise for Cawston as a
researcher and as a person. “Alvina is such an impressive young woman. She
had mentors, but she did all the work and followed through on her own.”

Geddes spoke of the difficulty for a student to get accepted into a
doctorate program in clinical psychology. “Its harder to get accepted than
it is to get into medical school. Alvina is very modest, but it’s important
to know that she was accepted to three or four schools in their doctoral
programs in clinical psychology.” She added, “It’s important for Native
American students to see what Alvina has accomplished and get the feeling
that ‘I can do that, too!’”

Cawston is spending her summer as an intern at the Wellness Center on the
Colville Reservation before leaving for Oklahoma State University to begin
her doctoral program under the tutelage of Dr. John Chaney. OSU is one of a
small group of universities involved with the “American Indians Into
Psychology” program, designed to encourage more American Indians to enter
the psychology field.

Cultural differences between Indians and non-Native psychologists often
cause patients to not return after initial sessions. With so few Native
psychologists, it’s often difficult for American Indians to find a
psychologist to help them. This program helps establish a connection
through college, graduate school and back to the Native community.

Asked about her eventual goals, she responded that she was planning in five
years to complete her doctorate. As a recipient of an IHS scholarship, she
will work for that organization for four years after graduation. She hopes
to teach at the university level and do research in a variety of fields at
the same time on issues such as domestic violence, higher education and
substance abuse. Eventually, she would like to have a practice in clinical
psychology.

Fifteen or 20 years from now? “I would like to return to the Colville
Reservation and work with people here,” she said.

Geddes echoed that sentiment. “Alvina always repeated the comment that she
wants to serve her community. The commitment to her people is always
there.”