Kaedan Yazzie is the 2023 recipient of our T. Robert Chambers $2,500 Scholarship. Kaedan, who hails from his mother’s cultural home of Coyote Canyon, NM, is a junior attending the University of New Mexico and is studying to earn a degree in nursing and is focused on graduating from the Nursing BSN Program in a little over a year.

“I know that there are a lot of sacrifices (and prayers) from generations before me, just so I can go to school and be in the position I’m now in,” Kaedan admits. He also attributes his interest in nursing to his mother, who is a nurse in the Fort Defiance area. He has also seen and experienced the shortage of trained nurses and medical personnel across the Navajo Nation.

Upon earning his bachelor’s degree, Kaedan is considering pursuing a Master’s Degree in Nursing. “I would like to work as an ICU travel nurse for a few years so I can see the world and experience new things. Then, I see myself returning to my reservation and settling down to continue to give back to my people as a nurse,” he says. “I believe it is important for me to serve my people in delivering quality healthcare. They need someone who knows where they are coming from, someone who understands their customs. I will be able to enhance my clinical judgement by being part of the community and therefore offering more advanced healthcare to the Navajo people,” Kaedan believes.