The Team

Lynette Stant

2020 Arizona Teacher of the Year

Lynette Stant, from the Dine’ Nation, is the 2020 Arizona Teacher of the Year.  She is a fifteen-year veteran elementary teacher who teaches 3rd grade on the Salt River Indian Reservation in Scottsdale, Arizona. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Grand Canyon University, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University. Mrs. Stant is a Gates Millennium Scholar Alumni. Her mission is to ensure her students have an equitable opportunity to become leaders, despite the oppressive issues many face, and uses her cultural experiences to be a reflective educator. She believes that student success begins with meaningful relationships and inspires her students to create a sense of family in and outside of the classroom. Reminding them, in order to understand where they are going, they must embrace where they come from.

​

Connect with Lynette via email at Lynette.Stant@saltriverschools.org, on Facebook or on Instagram @teachinbeauty.

Felisia J. Tagaban

Advocate

Felisia Tagaban (Diné/Tlingit/Filipino), a newcomer to Education, recently returned to the University of Arizona (UArizona) for the M.A. program in the Center for the Study of Higher Education. Felisia serves as a Graduate Assistant for the College of Education's Native SOAR (Student Outreach Access and Resiliency) program. The service-learning course and its mission align with her passion to increase the enrollment and retention of American Indian/Alaska Native college students at UArizona. An advocate for AI/AN students, Felisia, and other founding members of a student led advocacy group, called VOICE (Voices of Indigenous Concerns in Education), currently lead efforts at UArizona to address systemic and structural barriers that actively deter and resist AI/AN student success. Felisia works closely with campus partners across the university to help develop a vision of service that benefits Native students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Felisia will continue to champion the effort to "Indigenize UArizona" this fall as she works with Native SOAR and VOICE as a doctoral student. 

​

Connect with Felisia via email at fjtagaban@email.arizona.edu, Facebook, Instagram @fjtag or Twitter @fjtucson. 

Join the conversation with Native SOAR and VOICE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @nativesoar | @honoringvoiceua. 

Amanda Royce Josanaraae Cheromiah

Indigenous Digital Storyteller

Amanda Royce Josanaraae Cheromiah is from the Pueblo of Laguna, which is located in rural New Mexico. Amanda is passionate about strengthening the collective and individual self-determination of Indigenous people through mentorship, outreach and digital media. Amanda has spent nearly seven years serving as a mentor/instructor and three years as the director for Native SOAR (@nativesoar), which is a multigenerational mentoring program at the University of Arizona (UArizona) that equips Indigenous undergraduates and student allies to mentor Indigenous youth in Southern Arizona. Amanda intends to finish her dissertation in higher education from UArizona in spring 2021. Her intended dissertation is understanding how American Indian students conceptualize their individual self-determination through advocacy.  

Indigenous Educators Unite website features some of Amanda Cheromiah’s photography portfolio, which can be viewed at amadnacheromiah.com or @amandacheromiahphotography on Instagram.

Connect with Amanda via email acheromi@email.arizona.edu, Instagram @cheromiah_ or Twitter @amandacheromiah.