When COVID-19 hit, I was finishing my senior year at Navajo Technical University, majoring in information technology and earning a certificate in mathematics. When I was able to physically be on campus, I worked as a tutor and mentor at the Nitsahakees Bee’anoseel Student Success Center. In addition, I was active in the Navajo Tech AISES College Chapter, served as secretary to the Student Senate, and was a member of the National Technical Honor Society. As a student I was able to take part in two separate programs in partnership with the University of New Mexico and the University of Arizona, where I worked with their graduate program studying network security.
When the campus closed, everything changed — the pandemic had a huge impact. After spring break, my employment stopped. The school finally got approval to do online tutoring, but that was not nearly as many hours so I didn’t make as much money. Also, it’s different from working with a student face to face.
You couldn’t use the buildings so the school made hotspots available, but you had to access the Wi-Fi from the school parking lot and stay in your car. It’s hard to study and do assignments when you have your laptop and your books and papers — there’s nowhere to spread them out.
Our graduation was set for May 15, and of course, the ceremony was virtual. We had picked Dyami Thomas to be our commencement speaker. I heard him speak at the AISES Leadership Summit, so I was happy he would be speaking to our class. As it turned out, he was still able to participate via video.
When the campus closed, everything changed — the pandemic had a huge impact.
I am very interested in looking into graduate school for cybersecurity. But when it comes to computer science, I’m interested in more than one area. I like web design and computer maintenance and programming. When I worked for my school’s IT department, we would repair the machines and sometimes wipe them clean and install all new software. This past semester the IT department got a grant approved for 30 new machines, so we were able to build them up from scratch — including putting in the hard drives, memory cards, and software.
One of the class assignments I was most excited about was sending encrypted messages to other students via email. If you simply open the message, you see a jumble of letters and numbers. But if you are able to hack into it, you can read the message clearly.
Another aspect I like is programming. In one class we ran some code that had to be perfect — no dropped letters or added spaces. It took two or three hours to do one bunch of code, with lots of going back to look for errors. It really captured my interest in getting it right. My research for the summer is going to be on cybersecurity, hacking, and programming.
It’s going to be different for a while now, not only for me but for my five kids. My oldest son, 20, is also a student at Navajo Tech. My daughter, 14, is at Navajo Prep. Then I have a son in fourth grade, a son in first grade, and a five-year-old daughter graduating from Navajo Nation Head Start. They all miss their teachers and their friends — they see them for only two or three minutes when they pick up their lunches at school.
For them it’s not enough. So now I have to not only think of my education, but also make time to keep them in a routine and occupied as we shelter in place. I’ve been trying different ways to help them stay motivated and do their assignments. I’m a single parent, and most days I don’t get time to rest.
We live a few miles outside Crownpoint, N.M., and within our community there’s been a high number of COVID cases. I have family members working on the front lines. It’s scary knowing they are out there, but I’m proud that they are able to help within the community. We are a hotspot now and that makes me even more fearful of going to the store to get fresh food for my kids. My sisters help buy food for us.
My hope is to continue my education in grad school full time. It’s a goal of mine to have my degree in computer security and to help with all the hacks going on. I would like to be a part of that — to help with the vicious hacks. It even happened here on the reservation with one of our companies. An employee clicked on a hack email and it wiped out their systems. I really want to help with that.
— Wanda Jimmie
The abrupt closure of college and university campuses in the wake of COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of students, and for too many, has resulted in loss of jobs, housing, and meal plans. AISES launched the Together Towards Tomorrow (T3) Fund on April 1 to provide one-time support to students in need. Click here to contribute to this AISES COVID-19 rapid response fund for Indigenous students.