Healers of Tomorrow
What is the HOT program?
Healers of Tomorrow is our 9-month mentorship program for high school students (9th-12th grades) interested in pursuing health in their careers. Our mentees (high school students) will be paired with a health professional. Mentees and mentors work together throughout the program and cultivate a relationship where mentees can learn from their mentor about their educational and career journey. In the HOT program, students will be exposed to many areas of health by learning from many of our special guest speakers each month and gain opportunities to network.
During the 9-month program, each student will work on a community-based health project of their choice to improve one area of health within their community. Mentees choose their community and what they want to work on and will present their project at Graduation in May. Mentees will receive support from their mentor, HOT Coordinator, and NHI staff while working through their project.
Check out HOT on KRQE News 13
Healers of Tomorrow Participant Spotlight
Emelia Pino
Healers of Tomorrow Participant
Emelia Pino (2019-2020 HOT participant) saw a need within her home community of Zia Pueblo. With her home community on lock down from the pandemic, she wanted to gather educational supplies and games to keep the youth entertained.
Read this UNM article about Emelia!
Emelia became a HOT Coordinator and has been selected for a prestigious national award given out by the National Indian Health Board. She was recognized at the 2020 Heroes in Health Award Gala!
Community-Based Projects
"Dental Bags"-Mia Armijo-Paquin
My project was to help the kids in my community who are younger and have not been very educated on oral health since covid started. Many of the tribal youth programs have shut down so I contacted the NAPRR dentist office and got some supplies for the bags. I gave these to kids 5 to 10 and distributed all 60 bags. I hope the bags help kids understand how important it is to take care of their teeth.
"Zia Tutoring"-Ankit Jaiswal
Zia Tutoring aims to make college more accessible by providing free standardized testing preparation including SAT/ACT prep and AP class preparation
“Normalizing Periods in the Dance Space”-Helena Tran
I donated period products (~300 pads) evenly between the two locations of my dance studio. These products are for all the dancers, and I think this will make it easier for young girls feel less weird about their menstruation. I also made kind notes to be hung up in the bathrooms, just to spread some positivity because sometimes the dance space can have a lot of pressure and toxicity. Finally, I made a little period guidebook, explaining and normalizing different aspects of a period (dealing with PMS/pains, fun facts…). I wrote with an engaging and kind style in hopes of influencing kids to be nicer to their selves and their peers during their phase of development.
"Mental Health Matters" -Kahleya Chapman & Hallie Cornfield
The goal of our project was to give resources to the community of who to reach out to when they're in times of need. We used interactive methods like writing in journals, sticky notes, and crating a fun glitter breathing activity. We also had a guess speaker, Karen Waconda, speak about the traditional aspects of mental health. We closed with a reflection and a meal.
Healers of Tomorrow Supporters
