SGDE online grad Shannon Taylor forges path toward service of her ancestral lands
"I want to be able to protect and preserve this land for future generations because I have a deep connection to the land and to everything that comes with it – the values, the tradition, the language, the culture, the people, the animals, the water," said Shannon Taylor, who will graduate in May with a degree in geographical information systems technology. The work she's trained for – cartography, or the study and creation of maps – is, in her view, the modern extension of the White Mountain Apache's longstanding tradition as protectors of their homelands.
Kyle Mittan/University Communications
Shannon Taylor's journey toward graduation is, in many ways, a story about her sense of place.
Taylor grew up on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, in Arizona's White Mountains, and that's where she's lived all her life. Growing up, she passed the time attending traditional ceremonies, fishing and generally exploring the outdoors with her family.
Those experiences ignited a passion that Taylor, who is White Mountain Apache and Navajo, aims to make a career out of.
Taylor will graduate from the University of Arizona in May with a Bachelor of Science in geographical information systems technology. The work she's trained for – cartography, or the study and creation of maps – is, in her view, the modern extension of the White Mountain Apache's longstanding tradition as protectors of their homelands.
"My ancestors, they fought for the land. They're the reasons we're still here, because they did not give up," said Taylor, who, as an Arizona Online student, completed her degree entirely from home. Her next chapter involves Arizona Online's Professional Science Master's program in resilience practice.
"I want to be able to protect and preserve this land for future generations because I have a deep connection to the land and to everything that comes with it – the values, the tradition, the language, the culture, the people, the animals, the water," Taylor added. "That's just something that I'm really passionate about."
Service to ancestral lands
Taylor graduated from East Fork Lutheran School on the Fort Apache Reservation, then attended Northland Pioneer College. She earned an Associate of Arts degree in 2012, chasing an artistic drive developed while learning traditional Apache sewing, basketry, and beadwork when she was young.
Beadwork depicts half of each seal from Taylor's tribes: White Mountain Apache and Navajo.
Kyle Mittan/University Communications
Taylor put her degree to use by working in various capacities for the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
When the COVID pandemic hit, Tohono O'odham Community College in Sells offered free tuition to enrolled tribal members in Arizona – and the opportunity to attend online. Taylor saw a new chance to deepen her education without leaving her home in the White Mountains.
"My main goal with obtaining my education is to help my tribe or any other tribal communities, to apply my knowledge of GIS to help with tribal conservation efforts, land management and other tribal environmental issues," Taylor said. "I grew up here, I'm still here, and I plan to stay here on my ancestral lands."
Charting her path to GIS
At TOCC, Taylor studied life sciences and natural resources, eventually earning an Associate of Science. She chose the program after her upbringing spent mostly outside, learning about traditional food gathering with plants and gathering wood for her family's stove in the winters.
During her time at TOCC, Taylor also earned a certificate in geographic information systems, her first academic foray into the concept of studying geographic and spatial relationships. Taylor already had a familial connection to the field – her aunt worked as a cartographic technician for the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for many years.
"She's very knowledgeable about the land and resources that the tribe has," Taylor said, adding that she was inspired to serve in a similar way. "I just hope I can be as good as her one day because I feel like those are big shoes to fill."
Taylor credits her time at TOCC as crucial to helping her learn how to get an education online, her first experience taking virtual classes, using programs such as Zoom or Canva. TOCC is also where Taylor built important skills in in ArcGIS Pro, a specialized software used across the GIS field.
As she neared graduation from her second associate's degree, Taylor began looking at bachelor's programs in the GIS. Looking at the three state universities, she was drawn to the high rankings of the U of A's Bachelor of Science program in geographic information systems technology offered via Arizona Online.
Even while attending from about three-and-a-half hours from the main campus in Tucson, Taylor found ways to build community as an online student.
She became deeply involved with several clubs on campus, including the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, or AISES; the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science, also known as SACNAS, the Native Food Energy and Water Security Alliance, or the Native FEWS Alliance.
"I asked to join clubs and some of them were really open about opening it to online students," said Taylor, who attended conferences thanks to her involvement in the clubs and the support of the Indigenous Resilience Center in the Arizona Institute for Resilience.
She also had the opportunity to study abroad in Italy during her time as an Arizona Online student.
"The U of A has helped me grow in so many different ways," she added. "The personal and professional growth that I experienced is something that I could have never been able to achieve without them."
An eye toward the next generation
Taylor is already fulfilling her goal to serve tribal communities. For the past two years, she's worked for the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, doing administrative work that supports the institute's forestry-related programs. She currently works with the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes in Montana and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota as part of that role.
Once she graduates in May, she'll switch to a GIS-related role, using the map-building skills she's developed to help manage forestry research programs and track their progress. She's currently training for her upcoming role.
But Taylor sees nearly endless applications for GIS to serve tribal communities. Many homes on tribal lands, she noted as an example, do not have physical addresses, meaning it's difficult for families to get routine deliveries.
Thinking specifically about her own tribe, Taylor also pointed to the Apache trout, the state fish of Arizona and once an endangered species. The field of GIS, she said, has long been part of the solution for the species' recovery.
"Things like that, tribal issues, they have to be mapped," Taylor said. "They have to be presented in GIS data in order to obtain funding for protection and rehabilitation efforts."
As a Native GIS specialist, Taylor added that she sees an opportunity to bring traditional ecological knowledge to her field.
"So much Indigenous science is finally being acknowledged by Western science, and we've known it for centuries. We knew how the weather was going to be based off the sun or moon positioning. We knew why some plants grew and some did not return, why the harvest of wild game or crops changed over the years," Taylor said.
"Indigenous knowledge was taught to us by our ancestors, to help protect and preserve the environments around us," she added. "I hope to be able to do that for the next generation."