Kalila Arreola, a rising junior at UNC, is a part of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She is majoring in Political Science with two minors, one in Sustainability and the other in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. She states Juneau, Alaska is home because it’s where she grew up, all her family resides, and her tribe and rich culture are linked.
As a kid, Kalila always had a passion for learning and wanted to know why and how things worked. Understanding the world around her made her feel grounded.
Political Science was appealing to Kalila because she has always been interested in politics and how it affects our daily lives. Her goal with majoring in political science is to eventually go to law school. When Kalila was young, her parents would tell her she would make a great lawyer because she was always arguing with them, but she insisted that she wouldn’t become a lawyer. What spiked her interest in wanting to become a lawyer was a specific court case that she learned about. The case involved a tribe in Seattle, the Sauk-Suiattle, suing the city on behalf of the salmon that were being affected by the construction of dams. She shared that the case was particularly interesting because she became fascinated by how tribes could sue on behalf of wildlife. She declared, “The case was unique to me and my first time seeing this done, inspiring me to pursue environmental law.”
During high school, when thinking about her next journey in life, Carolina was not where she thought she would end up. However, one series of events after the other led her to UNC and she admits that it just feels right and that she is where she was meant to be all along.
After obtaining her degree, Kalila hopes to continue her higher education journey by pursuing law school. She’s still in the process of looking at different school options. She is interested in environmental law and policy, primarily, and potentially dipping into criminal law (mostly focusing on environmental law and policy). With these pathways, she will be able to work with tribes in Alaska, and anywhere on the national level. Her primary goals are to advocate for tribes to exert power and rights as they relate to the environment as well as protect and brainstorm new policies for culture protection. She wants to work on issues surrounding Land Back, sovereignty, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). She mentioned the importance of differentiating co-stewardship and co-management and how both concepts affect tribes’ ability/standpoint on issues. She mentions that co-management is better for Native peoples because it situates tribes to have the same amount of power as anyone else sitting at the table.
For stress-relief, Kalila tries to balance her school/personal life so she can enjoy doing the things she loves, which are spending time outside, doing activities such as hiking, hammocking, sitting near bodies of water, creating art, and being active. She enjoys hanging out with her friends and having long conversations. She shared that she believes that things happen just how they happen, and that’s okay.
There are multiple goals that Kalila has lined up for this year. She plans to attend at least five office hour appointments and meet all her professors individually. She started this goal last year to make sure she took advantage of office hours, so she plans to attend more than she did last year. Along with this, she plans to continue working and studying hard to make good grades. Kalila mentioned that she tends to bite off more than she can chew, so she would like to work on prioritizing what is most important to her.
This past summer, Kalila worked two jobs. She secured an internship that focused on conservation and community development policy, and she worked a second job on the weekends as a barista. She said “I’m creating the second edition of ‘Tongass’ a zine created to encourage locals and, in my case, youth to submit comments to the Forest Service about various issues regarding the Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska. My edition focuses on the Tongass Land and Management Plan revision process and getting the youth to submit comments about how they want to see the forest stewarded, protected, preserved, and used.” Right now, Kalila’s biggest projects are the National Old Growth Rule Amendment (NOGRA) and the Tongass Land Management Plan. She has had the opportunity to speak with staffers and people involved with the Alaska legislature about bills that impact fish. With NOGRA, she’s working closely with tribal leaders across the Southeast to make a tool for tribal members to use and to write a larger letter for the Tribes to submit. For the management plan, she’s working to help get more people involved with the process. The Forest Plan will mandate how the forest is used, protected, and preserved through the next 15 years. The assessment phase–which we are in now–gives tribes the opportunity to speak about what they want to see and how they want to be involved in management for the next 15 years. The revision designates space for tribal involvement.
Although Kalila feels as though her favorite memory here at Carolina may be stereotypical, it doesn’t beat the joy she has experienced on campus. During her sophomore year, she said she wanted to attend more games. She recalled being able to secure a Duke v. Carolina ticket five minutes before the game started. “There was a guy who was selling tickets, and I begged for it. It was a great experience because I ended up seeing my best friend, we won the game, and we were able to rush Franklin Street.” She mentioned that she was previously uninterested in attending games but says she’s excited to attend more in the future.
Around campus, there are many student groups that Kalila participates in. She’s an active member and Historian for Carolina Indian Circle (CIC). For Strategies for Ecological Education, Diversity, and Sustainability (SEEDS), she serves as the volunteer coordinator and the diversity and inclusion officer. She’s a writer for the journal of the Undergraduate Law Association and a member of Women in Pre-law. She’s a member of the Epsilon Eta Environmental Honors Fraternity. She also is part of the skiing and snowboarding teams and the boxing club. During her time on campus, Kalila works at Tea-Hill, a cafe on Franklin Street.
Kalila mentioned that she had a hard time feeling completely at home in Carolina, but that changed when she started becoming closer to other CIC members. She ended up grabbing lunch with some of the members and then slowly befriended more people as she became more involved with the organization. She shared, “The town I grew up in was a cultural hub. I was used to seeing my friends and family. I was used to seeing my culture everywhere. There were efforts to make sure that Native people were at the forefront of issues in our community. When I was applying to college, I didn’t care where I went at first, but then I realized how much it mattered. Being away from that is a culture shock and being Indigenous, it’s crucial to have ties to your culture”. CIC is filled with Native people from across Turtle Island, representing various tribes, cultures and regions. “CIC was a safe haven for me, filled with people who think like me. I’m happy here.”
Kalila’s personal motto is “The only way to get through hard, scary things is to just get through it and tackle it.”. She stated that the approach can be harsh, but it’s what helps her accomplish and overcome what may be difficult for her. For example, she shared, “If I’m snowboarding and a slope looks scary at the top, too bad. I’m already up here. I have to get down somehow.”
Author: Jalyn Oxendine
