Morgan Bear is a program advisor with TRIO Student Support Services at Kirkwood Community College. It’s a federally funded program that serves first-generation students, low-income students, and students with disabilities. "I get to be an advisor, but I also get to help them transfer. I get to do programming," Bear said. "I get to do a little bit of everything that I want to do."When she’s not teaching her students, Bear brings in guest speakers in hopes of empowering them to excel. When she’s not in the classroom, Bear continues to willingly dedicate her time to her students. "Sometimes students just need help calling their rental office," Bear said. "I’m meeting with students. I’m walking students to the other side of the campus."The role is personal for Bear, who is from the Meskwaki Settlement."To me, this isn’t work. I was that student," Bear said. "I was a first-generation student. My mom didn’t go to college. She was a single mom. I was a low-income student."Bear remembers the moment during her senior year of high school when she learned about federal Indian boarding schools the U.S. implemented during the 19th century. "That was really the moment I decided that I was going to go to college," Bear said.According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, from 1819 through the 1970s, the U.S. created the boarding schools to "culturally assimilate" Indigenous children. Children were removed from their tribes and brought to these schools. Many of them were abused and some even died."I was sitting there and I thought to myself, 'Oh my God. What am I doing? I need to go to college. All these kids died so I could be here, or they had to go through that and I don’t want it to be for nothing,'" Bear said.However, Bear says she had a bad GPA. She applied to universities, but, unfortunately, was denied. Eventually, Bear ended up at Kirkwood Community College following high school. From there, she went to the University of Northern Iowa, where she became a student in the TRIO program and met an advisor who had a major impact on her."That advisor, his name's Nick Sullivan," Bear said. "We’re only supposed to — required to — meet our students two to three times a semester. He was meeting with me every two weeks."Get the latest headlines from KCCIThose meetings played a role in setting Morgan on her current path. She went to Iowa State and received her master's in post-secondary student affairs, higher education.Bear then returned to Kirkwood, where she brings more to students than just her help. "With education, they need culture," Bear said. "With culture, we need education."Bear works to bring both.In early November, she held an event for Native American Month, helping both current and prospective students. "I wanted there to be information groups from both communities," Bear said. "So I opened it up. I was very intentional about who I asked."Bear brought programs from the Meskwaki Settlement and Kirkwood together, drawing in many people from across the community. It also played a role in showing students what pursuing education can bring. "If my students aren’t going to have a seat at the table, I don’t care. I’m going to bring my own table," Bear said. "I’m going to bring my own chairs. I don’t even need to be in that space; I’m going to create my own."Bear said she wants to see underrepresented students knowing they can thrive and doing so."To me, that makes me happy — watching them go to the next place and succeed and be the person that they’re supposed to be," Bear said.