Autobiographical Essay

Hello my name is Cody Johnson. I am from Shonto Arizona. I am a member of the

Navajo Nation. My clans are Zuni Edgewater and I am born for The Reed People Clan. My
maternal grandparents clans are The Bitter Water Clan and my paternal grandparents clans are
Red Running Into The Water Clan. I graduated from Shonto Preparatory Technology High
School in 2013. I am currently attending Northern Arizona University with an expected
graduation date of spring 2017. I am pursuing a Bachlers degree in both Political Science and
the Applied Indigenous Studies program. I eventually wish to develop a career in tribal politics
and help develop policies that will assist Indigenous communities.
I am the youngest member of my family and I am the first one in my family to pursue a
college education. Growing up, I dealt with many economic and family challenges. Most of my
life I grew up in extreme poverty. In addition to poverty many of my family members were
alcoholics. Despite all these challenges I was valedictorian of my cohort and graduated from
Shonto Preparatory Technology High School in 2013. I applied to Northern Arizona University
and they not only accepted me but offered me the Lumberjack Scholarship. Which is given to
Arizona High School Students who maintained a G.P.A above 3.0. My final accomplishment I
am proud of was that I made the Deans List at NAU for three out of the four semesters I have
been here After I graduate from Northern Arizona University with a bachelors in both Political
Science and Applied Indigenous Studies, I wish to further my educational endeavors by applying
for the Graduate School Program at Northern Arizona University.
Growing up, members of my home community would always tell me to gain an education
and help my people. Chief Manuelito was a Navajo leader who helped the Navajo people during
tough times. Manuelito and many other leaders negotiated with the United States and created a
peace treaty with the Federal Government. Manuelitos philosophy was that education is the
ladder to success. My top priority is to pursue higher education so I can use the knowledge I
learned to help my community. Unfortunately, many of the current federal and tribal policies
hinders economic development and job growth that many members of my home community
desperately need. From my previous experience, I decided to pursue a career in tribal politics to
learn and fix many of the policies that are not working currently. I have personally witnessed
many of my tribal members suffer from resource extraction. During the summer of 2015, I was a

part of an Internship with a company called HDR. My internship team conducted our research at
a Peabody Mine located in Black Mesa Arizona. As a result of the Peabody mine many homes
and traditional sacred Navajo sites were destroyed. Many of the residence also suffer from health
problems and relocation, which is why I want to take the initiative to address the many issues
and set out alternative solutions. Instead of extracting the earth and causing health problems for
those near the extraction site we should invest in green technology. I ultimately wish to serve on
the Navajo Nation Council by becoming a council delegate for my local community.
This is why I am pursuing an education because I want to go back to my home
community and help my community members. In the past I held a leadership position, as class
president during high school. I acquired leadership skills from this position. For example I would
communicate with my classmates in order to plan for events and other school related activities
such as college trips. I planned college trips was because most of my class peers many did not
know what to do in there post high school career. I foresaw this issue so I wanted to at least give
them a glimpse of what college is. These qualities such as communication and foreseeing issues
ahead of the time gives me the strength to develop a career in tribal politics and bring a higher
quality of life so future generations of Navajos to avoid expressing hardships I experienced.
Tackling these issues are a very high priority for me. Thank you