Thomasina Blackwater, MPH

The Office of Native American Student Affairs at the University of Arizona honored two public health students with academic awards at the 23rd Annual Native American Convocation ceremony held in the Student Union on May 10th.

Thomasina Blackwater, MPH, received the Outstanding Graduate Service Award. She graduated in May with a master of public health, with a concentration in Family & Child Health−Maternal & Child Health. Carol Seanez, a junior majoring in Public Health and Physiology, received the award for Outstanding Undergraduate.

In April, Carol was crowned Miss Native American UA by the University of Arizona American Indian Community. She ran on the platform of youth mentorship and currently is active with the UA’s Early Academic Outreach area as a Student Assistant.

Outgoing Miss Native American UA, Kimberly Kee crowns the 2012-13 UA Queen, Carol Seanez, on April 14, 2012.

She is a volunteer mentor for the College of Education’s Project SOAR (Student Outreach Access and Resiliency), a program designed to help develop mentoring relationships with Native American 5th graders at local charter schools. She is also very active in the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) on campus.

Carol has already represented the UA at the Miss Native American ASU and Miss Indian World pageants at the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow.