Spring Break Trip to Albuquerque!
Guwaadzi houba!
Hello friends, family, and extended community members. I hope this message finds you well. My name is Nicholas Felipe and I am an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico. I attend Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin as a graduating senior majoring in Environmental Studies with a focus in Innovation & Entrepreneurship and a minor in Anthropology. Currently, I hold the position of President for the Lawrence University Native American Organization, or LUNA, and have created this page today to ask for your support on behalf of the entire group, as well as past and future students who attend Lawrence. I would like to ask you to donate your time, energy, thoughts, prayers, and hopefully any financial contribution you can afford to to a Spring Break Trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico for this group of dedicated Native/Indigenous leaders to explore their current understanding of Native American culture in the southwest. 
The mission statement of LUNA is as follows:
Lawrence University Native American Organization (LUNA) is an open group to all Lawrence students and community members interested in Native American/Indigenous cultures, issues, and relations. We will promote awareness about Native American/Indigenous cultures through education, in addition to being a support group for the students that identify as Native American/Indigenous.
The purpose of this spring trip is to expand the educational and professional opportunities for the members attending. LUNA is organizing this trip and its activities to empower these members to bring their newly gained knowledge back to their communities and create a supportive space for further Native American/Indigenous identifying individuals. This trip is extremely necessary for the betterment and health of LUNA as an organization and support group because of the struggling Native American retention rate present at Lawrence University. The demographic make of the 18 students attending the trip include students who identify as Native American, Native Hawaiian, Latinx, Hmong, Caucasian, African American, Haitian, INDIAn, and Indigenous. The group participating in this trip is constantly reflective of LUNA’s mission statement and are committed to combating stereotypes, injustices, and misrepresentations in the education system. Unfortunately, the cost of attendance for Lawrence University extends beyond financials and creates many other obstacles for students on top of the stress of balancing classes and work. The incomprehensible amount of stress on college students today inhibits them from raising up the expected cost of $100 per person for this trip in a healthy manner. It is not LUNA’s intention to add more stress to these students for them to participate in a very meaningful and beneficial spring break trip. Many of the students have described this trip as a once in a lifetime opportunity to get out of their home state and regions’ to explore other cultures and get involved in a movement of empowerment for indigenous peoples everywhere. The goal of this trip is to place them in an environment of education, leadership development, community support, respect, and traditional values to expand their perspective on Native American culture, historically and contemporarily. We need your help to reach these goals, intentions, and visions of a healthy community for Native American/Indigenous Peoples. We need your help to positively reaffirm LUNA’s mission statement and test the boundaries of our capabilities. 
Below are a few questions you might have on a few details about the trip:
Why is this a once in a lifetime trip for LUNA members?
Lawrence is located in Appleton, Wisconsin and can be considered a relatively small midwestern city. Many of the students chosen to go on this trip, through consideration of applications, are from the Midwest and have not been outside of the the states that make up this region. Culture outside of midwestern hospitality is foreign to them, especially southwestern culture. They hear all of my stories of home and constantly get jealous of the food, Native American influence/support systems, beautiful scenery, and of the beautiful hot air balloons that fill our sky. Although they may not see too many hot air balloons take off, they are still very excited to try new and BETTER food, see and experience the beauty of Native American culture in the southwest, and witness the beautiful sunsets that all must see.
What will you all be doing in Albuquerque for Spring Break?
Believe it or not, we are going back to school! High school and middle school to be exact. We will be in Albuquerque from March 21st to March 25th meeting, discussing, and learning with/from many different leaders in the area. We are organizing our schedule right now, but we want to spend a lot of time with the students from the Native American Community Academy (NACA)! The goal is to spend time with upperclass in the high school to discuss different topics around Native American/Indigenous culture, history, and identity, as well as the college experience. We also are hoping to spend time with the underclassmen and middle school at NACA’s main campus for activities yet to be decided, exciting. In our time at the school we also wish to give back our time and and youthful energy by helping build a more positive community through a number of different community service projects the school has already started or wishes to accomplish. We are also planning on meeting with a few other nonprofit organizations that support Native and Indigenous peoples, like the Native Health Initiative. We are planning to visit, tour, and explore the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, as well as the Pueblo of Acoma! A very busy but exciting week. Spring break done the right way, not in the beach but in the community learning and giving back.
What will these donations be going to/covering?
Your contributions are extremely important for they will directly and strictly be used for supporting those members going on the trip. After a few calculations and many meetings, our spring break planning committee estimated that the total cost for this trip will be over $6000. Seemingly inexpensive for 18 people, but this total only considers gas, rental fees, museum/activities fees, and 2-day lodging to shorten the driving time per day there and back. LUNA has received aid from our student government, but we are expected to fundraise close to $2000 if we wish to have no expected cost per member for attendance. LUNA is currently organizing fundraisers to support these students and lower the expected cost, but there is only a certain amount things college student will buy at a fair price. If you could help LUNA raise $2000 the expected cost per individual would go down to $0 and the only thing these students will have to worry about on their trip is where to get the best breakfast burrito in town with the best green chile. We hope to raise enough money to compensate our lodging host for our time in Albuquerque, my mom and grandmother. Water bill might go up for that month……. Sorry, and many thanks. That’s 18 “thanks” to be exact.
“Are you going to do anything fun on this Spring Break Trip?”
Well, it is all going to be a lot fun. The group that was chosen to go was decided on the following three factors: 1. How have the been part of LUNA? 2. Why do they want to go on this trip, and will it be beneficial for them? And finally, 3. How well do they get along with others, especially those on the trip already? All of these things were taken into consideration when deciding who was going to be going on the trip. So we already know we all get along, we all already work really well together, and I know that these are a great group of leaders. This spring break trip will be nothing short of amazingly fun! Although, if we raise up enough money (WINK. WINK.) we were planning on paying for our member to go up the Sandia Tramway. After a game of bingo at Sandia of course… Maybe two. We also plan on just roaming the city, and searching for Breaking Bad filming sites upon special request from a few die hard fans going on the trip.
How will you already hungry college students eat?
We are all already used to ramen noodles and hot cheetos, but my family does intend on helping to make sure that no one on our trip goes hungry. All of our members plan on saving up extra money to eat out a few time down there, as well as to go grocery shopping to help my family cook. We also live by a McDonalds, Blake’s Lotaburger, and Bob’s Burgers. We plan on stocking up on dollar menu items on Monday. We plan on going wild on Taco Burger Tuesday at Bob’s Burger. As well as eating half of our breakfast burritos from Lotaburger in the morning, and then finishing it off for dinner. We do plan on cooking meals with my family and are currently looking for organizations to sponsor a lunch.
I really do hope that if you read this far that you do consider donating a few bucks towards funding this trip for us. Our hearts and minds are in the right place, and I believe we are heading in the right direction for change and growth. If anyone has any specific questions about LUNA, this Spring Break Trip, or anything else please do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you all very much for being patient and supportive. We hope to make you proud and grow from this experience.
Thank you.
Dawaee.
Nicholas A. Felipe
Lawrence University Class of ‘16
President, Lawrence University Native American Organization