Sage Innerarity, a first-year student in the Library Sciences graduate program and a member of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California, won a $10,000 Rodney T. Matthews Jr. Scholarship to use towards her Simmons education this fall.
According to a press release from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the scholarship “seeks to reverse the trends that have left Native Americans as the most underrepresented group in colleges and universities.” It is awarded to 58 members of the 109 federally recognized tribes in California seeking higher education.
Innerarity decided to get her Master’s in Library and Information Science after “assessing needs within [her] community and among Native communities across Turtle Island,” she said.
“My tribal community is really at the center of everything I do,” said Innerarity.
While at Simmons, she hopes to “help facilitate stronger relationships between citizens and local tribal communities.”
Innerarity’s vision is to find ways for Simmons to encourage and facilitate connections between Native students and the school and the Library and Information Sciences.
“Simmons potentially could have the money to fund summer internships for [Native students],” said Innerarity. “Generally, I would really like to see those relationships be stronger because we do need more Native people in this profession.”
“I think it could be really cool to see Simmons become a place where Native students who want to be in this profession are going to get that education,” said Innerarity.
When she’s not at Simmons, Innerarity works for the Miwok Heritage Center, a nonprofit organization in Ione, California. “I’m hoping to be able to continue working there and maybe establish an archive once I’m done with my degree,” said Innerarity. “But I also think working…in academic libraries and working on indigenizing these spaces… would be important too.”
