{"id":39847,"date":"2015-10-23T11:25:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T18:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=39847"},"modified":"2015-10-29T17:32:41","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T00:32:41","slug":"nau-employee-recognized-for-helping-first-generation-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-employee-recognized-for-helping-first-generation-students\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU employee recognized for helping first-generation students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When <strong>Eugene<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Begay<\/strong> was a senior at Tuba City High School 34 years ago, he asked his teacher, Mike Nesbit, if he\u00a0thought he was college material. The answer, and some scholarship funds from Northern Arizona University, changed his life.<\/p>\n<p>These days, Begay spends his time with other would-be first generation college students as part of the federally funded <a href=\"https:\/\/nau.edu\/talent-search\/\">Educational Talent Search Program<\/a> housed at NAU. He is being recognized for his work with the College Success Arizona Star Award.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love being able to go back to my reservation and serve my people,\u201d said Begay, who is Navajo. \u201cKnowing how education has empowered me, I help students learn how they can get an education and return to serve their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_39848\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-39848\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Eugene-Begay.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-39848 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Eugene-Begay-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"Eugene Begay\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2015\/10\/Eugene-Begay-300x227.jpg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2015\/10\/Eugene-Begay-1024x773.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-39848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eugene Begay is an NAU employee with the Educational Talent Search program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For 25 years, Begay has traveled throughout the region, spending time with students from 10 high schools, mostly on the Navajo reservation. He offers information on vocational schools, community colleges and 4-year institutions, including NAU.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEugene embodies NAU\u2019s commitment to educational access and opportunity. He often shares his personal, inspirational story and is truly a role model,\u201dsaid <strong>Erin Grisham<\/strong>, associate vice president of student affairs. &#8220;The award is important because it recognizes a man who goes about his work quietly, while helping young people achieve their educational dreams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose students never forget Eugene and the difference he made for them during high school and then college,\u201d said Angie Delgadio, a success advisor with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/collegesuccessarizona.org\">College Success America<\/a>, who chose Begay for its inaugural Arizona Star Award.<\/p>\n<p>NAU partners with College Success America, which supports students through funding and intensive mentoring.<\/p>\n<p>Begay will receive his award Wednesday, Oct. 29\u00a0during the College Success America annual fundraising <a href=\"http:\/\/collegesuccessarizona.org\/home\/events-page\/leaders-and-legends-2015-information\/\">luncheon<\/a> in Phoenix.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-employee-recognized-for-helping-first-generation-students\/\">When Eugene\u00a0Begay was a senior at Tuba City High School 34 years ago, he asked his teacher, Mike Nesbit, if he\u00a0thought he was college material. The answer, and some scholarship funds from Northern Arizona University, changed his life. These days, Begay spends his time with other would-be first generation college students as part of the&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":39849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}