{"id":78321,"date":"2026-07-13T08:17:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78321"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:27:24","slug":"udall-scholarship-congressional-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/udall-scholarship-congressional-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"\u202fNAU students awarded the Udall scholarship and the Udall congressional internship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two NAU students were selected\u00a0from\u00a0a field of highly competitive applicants\u00a0as winners of\u00a0the Udall Foundation\u2019s\u00a0scholarship and internship programs.\u00a0The foundation supports students who are committed to careers related to the environment, Tribal public\u00a0policy\u00a0or\u00a0Native\u00a0American health care with up to $7,500 for educational expenses.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chamryn<\/a>Chamryn Carl<\/span><\/b>,\u00a0<\/span>a junior in exercise physiology with minors in nutrition and health wellness\u00a0coaching, was one of 65 students, out of 838 candidates from 181 colleges and\u00a0universities, selected as a\u00a0<\/span>2026 Udall Scholar<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A member of the Navajo Nation and the Hopi\u00a0Tribe, Carl is a\u00a0non-traditional student\u00a0who transferred to NAU to be close to home.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNAU made sense for my studies,\u201d\u00a0she said. \u201cI feel supported here, see my culture represented and have been encouraged to try research and healthcare opportunities. When I learned about the NAU\u2019s Doctor of Physical Therapy program and the support for Native students, it all started to fit. It feels like the right place for me to grow into the person and provider I want to be.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carl\u2019s research looked at altitude, endurance performance and oxygen use in a Native\u00a0athlete\u00a0training for the Olympics. She said she learned to use advanced testing equipment, analyze\u00a0results\u00a0and present her findings to university leaders, donors,\u00a0media\u00a0and former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez. Her long-term goal is to become a physical therapist and set up a mobile physical therapy unit for\u00a0rural Navajo Nation and Hopi\u00a0Tribe\u00a0communities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest motivation is my community and wanting to give back to those who raised me,\u201d Carl said. \u201cGrowing up on the reservation, I saw how diabetes, heart disease, transportation\u00a0problems\u00a0and limited healthcare affected families like mine. Early on, I knew I wanted to help Native people and improve life at home.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ke'Andre<\/a>Ke’Andre\u00a0David<\/span><\/b>, a senior majoring in political science with a minor in critical sustainability studies, was one of 12\u00a0undergraduate,\u00a0graduate\u00a0and law students from eight tribes\u00a0selected as\u00a0<\/span>2026 Udall Interns<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

David, a member of the Hopi\u00a0Tribe in Arizona, completed a comprehensive 10-week internship in Washington, D.C. He said the experience was\u00a0rewarding\u00a0and allowed him to hear from constituents across the country.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWatching\u00a0lawmakers work in committees for environmental policy was amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cThis experience\u00a0aligns\u00a0with my long-term goal to work in public service and\u00a0eventually run for office in\u00a0Arizona.\u00a0It\u00a0allowed me to focus on\u00a0policies\u00a0and\u00a0issues facing rural and Indigenous communities\u00a0and\u00a0has given me firsthand exposure to the realities of policymaking, strengthened my professional\u00a0network\u00a0and\u00a0reinforced my commitment to serving my community at a higher\u00a0level.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

David hopes to increase the presence of Indigenous voices in state and national politics, particularly in water policy and infrastructure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we have to reconnect across the aisles, Republicans, Democrats and\u00a0independents as Americans, because that is who we are,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel the same way with my tribal nations; there are\u00a0more than\u00a020\u00a0federally recognized tribes in\u00a0Arizona,\u00a0and we can all work together and come together in a unified position. That way, we can achieve more things for the entire state. I am looking forward to serving our state.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students interested in applying to programs from the Udall Foundation can reach out via email to Lillie Gordon<\/a>, National and International Scholarship and Fellowships advisor.<\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two NAU students were selected\u00a0from\u00a0a field of highly competitive applicants\u00a0as winners of\u00a0the Udall Foundation\u2019s\u00a0scholarship and internship programs.\u00a0The foundation supports students who are committed to careers related to the environment, Tribal public\u00a0policy\u00a0or\u00a0Native\u00a0American health care with up to $7,500 for educational expenses.\u00a0 Chamryn Carl,\u00a0a junior in exercise physiology with minors in nutrition and health wellness\u00a0coaching, was one…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3019,"featured_media":78322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78321","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\/3019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78321"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78349,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78321\/revisions\/78349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}