ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
Social work alumna and UAA’s newest Fulbright Scholar is New Zealand bound
Ever since she was six years old, Panikaa Teeple, B.S.W. Social Work ’21, knew that spreading love was her life’s purpose. Now, she does exactly that through her work as a program coordinator in the Behavioral Health Department at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC).
Next year, Teeple will have the opportunity to spread love internationally as UAA’s latest recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant, which provides students in more than 140 countries the opportunity to pursue graduate study and research abroad.
“Healing from the effects of historical trauma has been an essential part of my journey — a journey I’m continuing to walk on,” said Teeple. “This truth is something I hold deeply within my heart and spirit, and at the same time I also have the opportunity to experience timeless love and connection because of my family, community, culture and ancestors. So I carry those close as I continue to be someone who pushes boundaries for healing work in a Westernized world for the next generation.”
In January 2024, Teeple will travel to New Zealand for graduate work in Indigenous studies at the University of Auckland. There, she aims to learn about the country’s history and relationship with its own Indigenous peoples, the Maori, and apply her findings to the ongoing advocacy taking place among the United States’ Alaska Native and Native American communities.
Through her current role at ANTHC, Teeple is a part of a team that coordinates workshops through the Alaska Blanket Exercise program. This program fosters truth, understanding, respect and reconciliation among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people through a first-person narrative of Alaska Native history.
After returning from New Zealand, Teeple hopes to apply what she’s learned to strengthen existing advocacy efforts and eventually develop a program or organization that offers community-based healing workshops.
“My interest is in what healing efforts are taking place to address the effects of historical trauma in New Zealand,” said Teeple. “I was born in Bay Mills Indian Community — traditionally known as Gnoozhekaaning, which translates to “Place of the Pike” — a reservation in Michigan. One of the values that are a part of my Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) culture and my Yup’ik culture is partnership. How can we learn from each other? How can we continue building connections so we can adapt, adopt and transfer lessons about healing efforts and what that could look like in communities on the other side of the world? ”
As a kid, Teeple not only knew that she wanted to help people as a career, but also that she wanted to travel to New Zealand. In Michigan, Teeple’s family briefly hosted Maori visitors who were a part of a cultural exchange event. She recalls this visit sparked her to learn more about the importance of building community and global partnerships.
Wanting to explore her mother’s Yup’ik culture, Teeple moved to Anchorage where she was encouraged to enroll at UAA. At UAA, she not only learned about her culture and about advocacy leadership, but also about the potential to travel to New Zealand as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
“I often think about the meaningful conversations I had in my classes. My teachers and mentors were planting seeds regarding my confidence and how I can be a leader, and now I’m in a place where I can say it too,” said Teeple. “This award means everything. It means I can continue opening doors to new opportunities for the rest of my life. It means I can actually see my goals and have concrete pathways to achieve them. Now I’m excited to see what door I get to open next.”