EDITOR'S Note: This story was originally published in the April issue of GCU Magazine, available in the purple bins around campus or digitally.
Born and raised on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Arizona, Lynette Stant learned to embrace her indigenous heritage from a young age through her grandmother, who never had the opportunity to go to school and only spoke the Navajo language.
“When I think back to childhood, I was really a teacher-in-training already,” said Stant, a recent Grand Canyon University Alumni Hall of Fame inductee. “I remember as a little girl always wondering why my grandmother couldn’t write her name. My dad made me understand it is because she never went to school.
“So, I used to make dotted lines that spelled out ‘Mary.’ I would hold my grandmother’s hand and help her spell her name. As she got better, I would take her dots away, until she was able to do it on her own.”
One day, when Stant’s grandmother was picking up her grandfather’s pension, she spelled out her name for her signature for the first time, instead of her usual thumbprint stamp. It shocked everyone, Stant said.
“I had those teacher qualities in me from the time I was a little girl,” she said. “I guess I just never really embraced that until I got older and began to appreciate my love for teaching.”
Stant thought she had it figured out when she decided to become a lawyer.
But as soon as she started taking introductory political science courses at the University of Arizona, she realized it wasn’t in her heart.
She thought, “Teachers get summers off, why don’t I become a teacher?” said Stant, who originally considered becoming an educator as a backup plan. “That sounds like something I could do, and it just became a work of passion.”
Stant finally chose to follow what was in her heart and teach, which she’s successfully done for 21 years. Stant earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Arizona State University in 2003, graduating summa cum laude as a prestigious Gates Millennium Scholar, a highly selective award for high-achieving, college-bound students. And in 2006, she completed her master’s in teaching from GCU.
“Being a Navajo woman, I have always wanted to work with indigenous children,” said Stant, who began her long career at Salt River Elementary School, a tribal community school in Scottsdale, Arizona, after her daughter was born and she became a single mom. “My mission was to ensure that whatever I did as a teacher, it was culturally relevant to them and that they saw themselves in the classroom.”
She wanted to be an indigenous teacher the students could look up to; she wanted to inspire them to believe the same dream is attainable for them.
Stant’s work did not go unnoticed.
She made history when she became the first indigenous woman to win Arizona Teacher of the Year in 2020, recognized for her passion to create a safe classroom space, encourage her students to pursue their dreams and learn in an uplifting environment.
“I brought my mom with me to the big luncheon where they announced the winner, and when they called my name, my mom told me in Navajo, ‘My child, this is what we pray for. This is how your ancestors and the holy people have blessed you. I want you to be brave wherever this takes you.’
“It chokes me up every time.”
And that award has taken her far.
In 2020, Stant became the chair and advisory board member for the Indian Education Advisory Council of the Arizona Department of Education. She collaborates with indigenous educators and stakeholders in the state to address issues important to the Native American community.
She also became an ambassador on the Teachers Advisory Board for the Act One Arts immersion program in 2023. The board enhances the lives of children and their families through quality art experiences and field trips.
As a member of the Arizona governor’s Educator Retention Task Force, she works with educators across the state to create strategies to keep teachers from leaving the classroom.
And in 2024, she began serving on the board of Dickinson College’s Center for the Futures of Native Peoples in Pennsylvania to advocate for Native American issues and to repair archived items of children who attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the first federally run boarding school (1879-1918) for Native American children located off the reservation.
But even with all her leadership work, Stant’s heart has remained in the classroom. She has stayed true to her third graders.
“I have seen a lot of state teachers of the year across the country leave their professions as soon as they win. I didn’t want to do that because being an indigenous teacher is so important for the students in those small communities to see someone like them, to see a reflection of them.”
When it was time to submit nominations for GCU’s Alumni Hall of Fame inductees, College of Education Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield couldn’t think of a better person that represents the kind of educator students deserve to have.
“While she is incredibly humble, she is known around the state for being an excellent educator, and she might even be better known for being a really kind, good human,” Critchfield said. “Lynette embraces the mission we have in the College of Education – to promote excellence, scholarship, servant leadership – and she really works to empower her indigenous students with the tools they need to be leaders in their community and beyond."
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