A new student success center for Indigenous students is now available at San José State.
The Native American Indigenous Student Success Center (NAISSC), located on the first floor of Clark Hall, is a space where indigenous students can meet and connect with one another.
As of right now, the space is currently a temporary location for the Indigenous community because the director and student success leaders are fighting for an official space at the Spartan Memorial.
Current and former students from the Native American Student Organization (NASO) worked together to open the center for many years.
NASO is a student organization where students can come together to share common interests and bond everlasting connections.
Elisa Aquino who is of Zapotec descent and is also the program director of NAISSC said the center acknowledges the ancestors of indigenous students and their success at SJSU.
Aquino said, Native Americans lived on the present-day SJSU campus long before the university existed.
“Before the creation of San José State, there has always been indigenous people in the area that always saw a need for Indigenous spaces on this campus,” Aquino said.
She also said in recent years, she saw how current and former students came together from the Native American Student Organization.
“Thanks to all the students like the NASO students from the Native American Student Organization who really took the lead in wanting to see a center for future students,” Aquino said.
Students and faculty worked together to have a conversation with university leaders to open the space that was worked for many many years.
Carmina Bosmenier, education senior and student success leader at NAISSC said at a young age she struggled in her early years in school because she had a hard time reading books when her teacher timed her.
She also said sometimes teachers would have hard times teaching students because they don’t often come to these kinds of spaces.
“For me, what was tough was I couldn't read as fast as the other kids. So I often felt like I was always nervous to be one-on-one with the teacher.” Bosmenier said.
Bosmenier said she feels most comfortable when taking guidance from a teacher within her tribe.
Native Americans Indigenous students struggled finding a space where they could feel welcomed and healed from their generational differences.
Oswaldo Martin, civil engineering senior and member of the Maya-Mam tribe, said before coming to SJSU he was in community college and was part of Native American Students Organization.
He said joining the organization helped him to get out of his comfort zone and learn about other tribes other than his Indigenous tribe.
Martin said he joined NASO in the Fall 2022 semester to be more involved with the Native American community and said when he heard about the Indigenous space, he wanted to be part of the movement.
“Being in spaces like this is unique too, because you get to learn other perspectives that have similar experiences to yours, but at the same time different and it's great to meet people that way,” Martin said.
