Combining Indigenous studies with poetry readings, a HUM Grant recipient organized two extraordinary nights of community connection.
A visit to the Navajo nation may be memorable for its iconic red rock, turquoise jewelry, or ancient cliff dwellings. For Aiden Jones (English, American Studies ’27), it was the catalyst for an unexpected passion. After a field trip with her Native American Civil Rights class, she was inspired to investigate poetry written by Indigenous authors. Then, with the help of a Humanities Undergraduate Mentoring (HUM) Grant, Jones found a way to share her passion with the local community back in Provo, demonstrating the good that can come from learning others’ stories.
A Platform for New Perspectives
Mentored by Associate Professor Mike Taylor (Indigenous American literatures), Jones studied several works of Indigenous poetry. She then decided to organize two public poetry readings to create awareness about the difficulties faced by Indigenous peoples. Jones wanted her events to be insightful and inclusive, but she also knew that poetry feels out of reach for a lot of people. She says, “Something that I’m really passionate about is helping people to feel like poetry applies to them.” So, instead of reading the poems herself, she enlisted the help of BYU students who have Indigenous family backgrounds to recite selected poems and share personal experiences.
One of the poetry readings was hosted in a charming local bookstore, and the other in a cozy café, where, on a wooden stage under string lights, Jones stepped back and let her readers take the mic. “I just needed to let them and the poetry do the work of bringing together the community and sharing the hard stories,” she says.
Gabby Hinds (Human Resource Management ’27), who is Ute, doesn’t frequently read poetry, but Jones’s events made the poems feel accessible to her. She appreciated the platform Jones provided for her to read a poem and relate her own family’s experiences. “I think sharing our stories helped the poetry to be more meaningful,” she says.
Emma Gaush (Exercise and Wellness ’27), who is Navajo, also read at the events, and she valued being able to connect with other Native students who have felt removed from their community. “I thought I was the only one, and so I felt out of place,” she says. Knowing there are others who feel the same way helped Gaush to realize that she’s not alone.
Fostering Community Connection
The poetry readings attracted diverse audiences—strangers of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs—who, by the end of the night, became a connected community. The second event was so well attended that there weren’t enough seats in the café to hold everyone, and people crammed inside to hear the students and the poetry. Hinds says the response from the community moved her. “At both events, people would just come up to us and thank us for sharing our experience. It’s easy to think that there’s not that kind of support outside of our own community here, but it’s cool to see that there are people that care and genuinely appreciate us sharing our experience.”
Gaush agrees, explaining that even people who didn’t attend the event asked her about it later. “That created an opportunity to keep talking about it and to keep sharing,” she says. “It’s something that I’ve been trying to do more, and I always receive really positive feedback.”
The Heart of the Humanities
Jones is grateful for the opportunity her HUM Grant provided for her to gain new perspectives and bring the community together. She says, “This was a learning experience in so many ways, but it also showed me the good that the humanities can do, and the vessel that they can be for sharing people’s stories if we’re willing to let them.”
BYU sits on the ancestral homelands of the Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone peoples.
Learn more about HUM Grant opportunities here.