Diabo funded for Texas conference

Community member Gracie Diabo has continued to take her education journey to new heights, this time flying out to San Antonio, Texas, for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) annual conference.

Diabo first heard of the program through a former mentor at McGill, where she is currently an undergraduate engineering student, and saw a posting on LinkedIn to apply for funding from Google to attend, as part of an initiative to support more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour) in attending international conferences. She applied and was successful in receiving full funding for the trip, including flights and accommodation.

Taking advantage of these kinds of initiatives can lead to amazing opportunities, Diabo said.

“I think it’s really important. These opportunities are a great way to meet other Native people across Canada and the US, and people have lived all these different experiences and can share so much knowledge among each other,” she said. “In the end, so much of our cultures are so similar, and that’s what makes it so special.”

The conference spanned four days and began with an opening ceremony, featuring blessings and singing from local Indigenous people, and ended with a powwow. Day sessions included workshops from companies like Apple, who talked about their opportunities in engineering and design.

Many of the workshops were led by Indigenous engineers, and one workshop saw educators and participants discuss finding your place as an Indigeous person in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

A highlight for Diabo was the career fair, where she spoke with employers from companies across Turtle Island.

“I’ve been to career fairs before, but this just felt really special because there was a lens of Indigenous people added to it,” she said. “When I talked to the companies, the employees were often Indigenous, and I could ask them about their experiences being Indigenous, and whether their companies had employee resource groups for Indigenous people.”

Diabo also became close with Keyaanna Pausch, who is Navajo and was also a recipient of the same funding from Google as Diabo.

“We spent a lot of time together, and we had great conversations all weekend, just discussing the differences of being Indigenous in Canada versus the US, and our upbringings,” she said. “We even discussed how similar we are, because they also have clans which I thought was so cool. We definitely made good memories.”

Though she was miles away in Texas, Diabo said she was still struck by how small the world can be - at the conference, she met Kahnawa’kehró:non Kahnekaroroks McComber, who now lives in Six Nations, as well as Rita-Louise Friendly, who lives in Seattle but has relations in Kahnawake.

She was especially struck when watching a video during the award ceremony featuring Mary Jo Ondrechen, a professor in chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University.

“They were playing a video about her and then I was just seeing shots from here in town, and I was like ‘Oh, who’s that?’” Diabo said. “She didn’t grow up in Kahnawake, but she was telling me who she was related to, and she even got her regalia made at my neighbour’s house.”

Diabo’s mother, Michelle Mayo-Beauvais, said that she’s continually proud of her daughter, who is in the middle of her full-ride Loran Scholarship at McGill.

“I’m so proud of her for taking the bull by the horns and applying for this, she won it and spent four amazing days there,” she said. “I’m proud that she took it upon herself to talk to so many people and make life-long connections.”

Diabo said that’s the most meaningful thing - the people.

“Meeting all these new people, now I can follow them and see what they’re up to, and be inspired by them,” she said. “If ever I need help with something I can reach out. This is community-building, and that’s the most important thing that comes out of these opportunities.”

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