Harvard first-year, a Native American, promises herself she’ll blaze a trail
In the first week of her College life, Eva Ballew ’22, who grew up in a rural town of 3,000 in southern Wisconsin, promised herself always to stay grounded and to do everything she could to blaze a trail for others. Ballew was admitted to 10 colleges, including Dartmouth, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, and Northwestern. To decide among them, the first-generation college student displayed a maturity and perspective beyond her years. “When I was accepted to Harvard, I felt it was the first step to the rest of my life,” said Ballew, the daughter of a Native American man and a Hungarian-American woman. “I thought about all the doors that could open not just for me and for my family, but for the Potawatomi children.” A descendant of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi tribe, Ballew feels strongly tied to her indigenous heritage. Among her dearest memories is attending pow-wows in southwestern Michigan,...