Student Profiles

Isaías Navarrete Chino

Isaías Navarrete Chino

Isaías Navarrete Chino is a forestry engineer who graduated from the Autonomous University of Chapingo and was part of the first generation of scholarship recipients from our Wixarika Scholarship Fund. He was a recipient of the scholarship from 2018 until 2020. Currently he collaborates with the Wixarika Research Center on agroforestry work and he just completed his first post-graduate position in Baja California for the National Forestry Commission of Mexico. He is originally from the community of Kuruxi Manuwe or Tuxpán de Bolaños.
María Bautista during her graduation 2023

Wenima María Bautista

Wenima is her name in Wixarika. María Guadalupe Bautista Díaz is a native of San Miguel Huaixtita and Tuxpan de Bolaños; she graduated July 10, 2023 with a degree in Tourism Design and Administration from the Technological University of Nayarit. She received a scholarship from 2021 to 2023. Currently she is working at the Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo, in La Huerta, Jalisco, where she is initiating workshops on Wixarika culture. Her dream is to return to her community and generate employment via tourism.

 

Zulema de la Cruz

Zulema de la Cruz y Alejandro Cosío del Fondo de Becas para Estudiantes Wixáritari

Video presentation from April 2022 featuring Wixarika Scholarship Fund alumnus  Zulema de la Cruz (Arquitecture 2023) and Alejandro Cosío who continues to be an enrolled scholarship recipient. This presentation is largely in English with some bilingual components and was part of our annual fundraiser for the scholarship fund.

Muileme Valdez in the Island of Mezcala, Xapawiyemetá 2023 (Photograph Diana Negrín)

Muileme Gabino Valdez

Muileme Gabino Valdez ia of Na'ayeri and Wixarika descent, he was raised in the community of Mesa del Tirador. Muileme is part of the first generation of students at the Universidad Tecnológica de la Sierra in the Na'ayeri community of Mesa del Nayar where he studied a degree in nursing. He was a scholarship recipient from 2020 to 2023, during which time he participated in various activities such as webinars, conferences, and exchanges in different parts of Mexico and abroad. This diligence and effort have allowed for him to compete in grants and programs that help him travel. He has also been active in social justice matters and proudly dedicates his successes to his mother. In April of 2023, Muileme participated in an exchange with the Coca Community of Mezcala, Jalisco where a curricular program was laid out for a university that serves Indigenous peoples of the West. As with many other students, Muileme hopes to fulfill his graduate studies, hopefully abroad.
Mario de la Cruz with his family at his graduation. Photograph courtesy of Mario De la Cruz, 2023.

Mario de la Cruz Carrillo

Mario de la Cruz Carrillo is a native of  Arroyo de Cañaveral, a small community in the Municipality of Nayar in the state of Nayarit. He graduated with a degree in mathematics from the Autonomous University of Nayarit in the Spring of 2023. Mario is very interested in working toward the creation of a curricular mathematics program that can better engage Wixarika youth utilizing innovative pedagogical practices so that students may find both enjoyment and relevance in the subject.