Vassar Quarterly - Spring 2018 - 33
Previous spread: Junction ruin at Canyon de Chelly. Clockwise from top left: SCA students, leaders, and NPS staff. Waterfall near Canyon de Chelly ruins. The crew traverses the rocky terrain in souped-up ATVs. Eric Beringause '80 and Michael Prior '86 on a 2016 visit to the canyon. SCA crew members clear fallen brush. deal with the NTUA. The deal was structured so that the NTUA eventually became the owners of the business, with ATNI providing management services. "This is pretty rare," says Prior. "Essentially, we were able to help them take part in standing up a new business that they now own, adding employees, adding stores, providing new services, providing competition. Now, about 98 percent of the employees are Navajo, and lots of good things happened as part of the project." The first year Beringause reached out to Prior, Beringause was in a quandary-he had less than two weeks to pull together the funds so they could hire the students. "In the kind of business we're in, you need to find ways to connect to your community, which includes charitable giving," says Prior. "Normally we like a little time to do our 'due diligence,' but because of the Vassar connection, I said okay. We'll promise you [funding] this year and do our due diligence after the fact." In 2016, Prior and Beringause visited the canyon together while the program was in operation. Liz Putnam had planned to go as well but had to cancel at the last minute. "It was nice to see," says Prior. "There's just nothing like seeing those high school students doing that job. They were a special group of kids." Hunter, who plans to retire from the National Park Service soon, is a little concerned about the future of the program. "We've just had some great kids, and a great variety of kids," he says. "Every year we have a potluck with the families. This is a time when the families and the kids come together and, of course, they share their experiences with their families. They talk about how it changed their lives, and what they want to do in life now, and what they want to do for the environment, and what they want to do for their homeland. These are the things they talk about." Beringause is hopeful that some sort of endowment can be created to put the program on a more stable footing. "Eric has really become involved in this program," says Hunter. "He brings the donors out here to see the crew. He enjoys it. I think he enjoys it so much that he wants other people to experience it, too." "It's just a different world," says Beringause. "This is my way of paying back a little bit for the great time I had there and the kindness they all showed me." VA S S A r Q U A r T E r LY 33