Graduating senior selected for Udall Congressional Internship

St. Paul, Minn. – The Udall Foundation has selected Macalester graduate Abaki Beck ’15 as one of 12 Native American Congressional Interns for 2015. She will be interning in the office of Representative Betty McCollum, D-Minn.

The students, from 11 tribes and 10 universities, were selected by an independent review committee on the basis of academic achievement and a demonstrated commitment to careers in tribal public policy.

Abaki Beck, an American Studies major who graduated from Macalester College Magna Cum Laude, is from Missoula, Mt.  A citizen of the Blackfeet nation, she is from a mixed-ethnic family, with Red River/Turtle Mountain Metis and European-American heritage.

The Udall Interns will complete an intensive, 10-week internship this summer. From 1996 through 2015, 233 American Indian and Alaska Native students from 113 tribes will have participated in the program.

Beck grew up picking medicinal roots on the Blackfeet Reservation and fighting for racial justice. She is dedicated to Native youth empowerment and ending violence(s) against and within Native American communities.

The Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation is a federal agency providing programs to promote leadership, education, collaboration, and conflict resolution in the areas of environment, public lands, and natural resources in order to strengthen Native nations, assist federal agencies and others to resolve environmental conflicts, and to encourage the continued use and appreciation of our nation’s rich resources.  The Udall Internship places students in Senate, House, and federal agency offices to learn firsthand how the U.S. government works with Native nations. The Udall Internship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on American Indian self-governance and health care, as well as the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. 

Beck would like to use her degree and passion for social justice to ameliorate issues related to mental health disparities, particularly youth suicide that impact Blackfeet and other Native youth. 

The Native American Congressional Internship Program provides American Indian and Alaska Native students with the opportunity to gain practical experience with the federal legislative process in order to understand first-hand the government-to-government relationship between Tribes and the federal government.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,045 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu