Valerie Switzler, left, and her daughter MayAnne Mitchell, right, will graduate together on Friday from Haskell Indian Nations University. Switzler will be getting a bachelor's degree in American Indian studies, and Mitchell will earn her associate's degree in business administration. At center is Mitchell's daughter and Switzler's granddaughter Alena Mitchell, 4.

College student Ashley Aguilar was homesick.

So, she lured her family from Warm Springs, Ore., to Lawrence where they could attend Haskell Indian Nations University with her.

“Her friends were saying, ‘Geez Ashley, everybody goes to college to leave their family and here you bring your whole family,” her mother, Valerie Switzler, said, laughing.

Ashley didn’t just convince her mother to attend Haskell. Her older sister, MayAnne Mitchell, and MayAnne’s husband, Allen, attend, too. She also has two younger sisters, Georgianna Aguilar, 20, and Evelyn Aguilar, 19, who live in Lawrence with mom. Evelyn, like her sisters, plans to follow in mom’s footsteps.

On Friday, Switzler, 47, will be the first in the family to earn a bachelor’s degree.

She attended Haskell in the early 1980s but left after one year because she wasn’t ready to live away from home. Coming back wasn’t easy and she questioned, at times, whether she would finish. She recalled staying up until 2 a.m. and struggling with business calculus.

“I was crying, but the teacher understood that I hadn’t taken a math class for 15 years,” she said.

Last semester, she earned a 4.0 grade point average while juggling 24 credit hours with family, campus clubs and working at Haskell’s Extension Office. Her job entails teaching Native youth classes, working on grants and helping with computer programs.

“She’s a great mentor and great leader,” said Sharon Hallum, Haskell Extension director. “She’s a good example for women who are older and grandmothers, that it’s never too late.”

That includes Mitchell, 24, who has a 4-year-old daughter and earned an associate’s degree in the fall. She will walk in Friday’s graduation ceremony with her mother.

“My mom has taught us that education is the key to what our people need to survive, and that’s why I am here because I need to learn and be able to stand up for what we believe in, our culture and our tribe,” Mitchell said.

Next fall, Mitchell will continue working on a bachelor’s degree in business administration, while her mother will be in a master’s degree program at Kansas University in indigenous nations studies, focusing on language documentation and revitalization.

Her goal is to build an immersion school on the Warm Springs reservation where she grew up and teach children the dying languages and traditions of their tribes.

“We lost a lot of our way, so we are trying to re-establish some of the cultures and traditions and dances from those who are remaining,” she said.

Switzler said there are three native languages on the reservation, which is unusual. Of those, there is one language, Numu of the Paiute tribe, which no longer has a survivor. Switzler is one of only a handful who speaks Kiksht, of the Wasco tribe.

During a recent visit home, she taught children songs and dances in their native languages. Their performances brought tears of joy to the elders.

“They were crying because they hadn’t witnessed them for such a long time,” Switzler said.

She also hopes to help reduce the school dropout rate, which has been 80 percent.

“We are looking toward a bigger and brighter future,” she said of the reservation that only has a gas station, post office and supermarket. About 3,000 people live on the reservation.

“I just want to go back and help my people, especially the children. The children at home are suffering, and I want to be there to help as much as I can.”

Mitchell also plans to use her education in Warm Springs, where she wants to provide legal services after eventually earning a law degree at KU.

“Being able to help out my people back home is very important to me,” Mitchell said.