Nursing Student Makayla Shares Her Personal Story of Perseverance, Hope, and Academic Success.
Inner City High students Jaden, Adiren and DaKotah stand with Indigenous nursing student Makayla Mantla (right).
On Thursday, September 19, Inner City High School’s circle was paid a visit by Makayla Mantla, an Indigenous nursing student at the University of Alberta. Makayla shared her personal journey of how she came to attend the University’s nursing program, from a challenging childhood in the Northwest Territories in the Behchoko First Nations community, to achieving her academic successes later in Edmonton. She spoke of how she overcame barriers and found her footing and pathway to academic success while navigating an often lonely post-secondary experience as an Indigenous person on campus. She also talked of feeling constrained by many societal stereotypes that she had internalized, and how she initially often felt out of place at university. Makayla overcame much adversity and achieved success with her postsecondary studies. She is now bringing her positive story to Indigenous youth in the larger community to show that they too can achieve their aspirations — career and otherwise. Makayla’s talk provided our students with insights and relatable real-world examples of how she accomplished her goals. You can learn more about Makayla and her story at the links below:
https://www.ualberta.ca/en/nursing/nursing-news/2022/may/nursing-transition-year-program.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wvh3H0n4k
Our sincere thanks from all students and staff to Makayla for her visit!