New Native American Student Association at Oklahoma Christian

Oklahoma Christian University is home to a new student association. The Native American Student Association (NASA) began Sept. 23 in hopes to give Native American students a space for community and culture.

The creation of NASA involved the help of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, sponsor Amy Staton and Student Leadership Coordinator, Katie Martinez. Freshman Matoaka Tennyson headed up the project and is the current president of the new association.

Oklahoma Christian has 68 student organizations such as academic groups, extracurricular opportunities and social service clubs. Now, NASA is another option.

Tennyson said the process to create NASA was more complicated than she expected. 

“I had come up with the idea during the week of Earn Your Wings when BSU was announcing all the diversity groups,” Tennyson said. “I had realized that there was almost every other ethnic group, but not Natives. It all started then, and we had our first kickoff on Sept. 23.” 

Martinez said alongside Tennyson, Staton was the brain behind the operation. 

“While I assist student organizations, sponsors like Amy really make it happen,” Martinez said. 

Staton said she passed along the concern of the lack of a Native American association on campus to the administration. Staton said while Tennyson is the current president, she will continue to assist NASA when needed. 

“I merely asked why we didn’t have a Native American Student Association at OC,” Staton said. “My input was to pass on the information link to the chapter I was part of in college at NSU and offered to help out if needed.” 

Audrey Redfearn, president of DEI, said Tennyson pushed to have NASA on campus. 

“[Tennyson] has a strong Native American heritage and is very excited to get to share that with the campus,” Redfearn said. 

Redfern said DEI helped with guidance during the creation process. 

“DEI was able to give helpful tips on starting an organization and is still helping to provide insight into certain organization structures,” Redfern said. “We are also fortunate enough to have a member on our council that is involved in LASO, BSU and ISC; that was super helpful in giving advice about how they try to run their student organizations and their outreach efforts on campus.” 

Tennyson said a Native American Student Association is needed at Oklahoma Christian. 

“I think it is important to have NASA because people should get to learn about the Native culture,” Tennyson said. 

Tennyson said NASA has short- and long-term goals to improve diversity on campus. 

“Some long-term goals NASA has is to grow and to be able to let everyone know who the Natives were,” Tennyson said. “We hope to be able to keep NASA for many years, and to have fun learning.”

Tennyson said she decided to be the leader of the new association because it is important to have her heritage represented on campus. 

“I chose to lead and be the president of NASA because I love my culture,” Tennyson said. “I have always wanted to share it with everyone because it is interesting and not many people know about it.”

Tennyson said since the project is so new, they are working on organizing their next meeting. 

“There are a few students already involved and we have many interested,” Tennyson said. “Right now, we are working towards our next meeting. We are hoping to have something soon.”