Note to readers • This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship.
Kayla Kidd already had a lot on her plate.
Last school year, the University of Utah junior studied criminal justice with an eye toward law school. A descendant of the Ute Indian Tribe, she hopes to one day be a lawyer helping the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, where she grew up.
Then came a request to take on a new assignment: Would she be willing to mentor other Ute students? She quickly said yes.
“I just wanted to make it easier,” Kidd said. “I didn’t really have that chance for me. I didn’t really have a person to talk to about my struggles.”
In recent years, The Salt Lake Tribune has examined Ute students and their struggles. The Utes are integral to the identity of the state; Utah takes its name from the tribe, as do the teams of the state’s flagship university.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utes Cheer Squad performs during halftime of the Big 12 basketball game between the Utah Utes and the Oklahoma State Cowboys at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Saturday, Jan 11, 2025.
And at nearly every level of education, Ute students are left behind.
Ute students in the Uinta Basin are the students most likely to drop out of high school. Their test scores rank the lowest among any racial or ethnic group in the state.
Last year, The Tribune examined the relationship between the Ute Indian Tribe and the University of Utah with the help of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach Fellowship.
In 1951, 11 Ute students arrived at the Salt Lake City campus. Nearly 75 years later, that number was even lower this academic year: Three students received the scholarship for enrolled members of the Ute Tribe and four other students of Ute descent received third-party scholarships. In all, six Ute students have graduated with the Ute Tribe scholarship since it was started in 2014, the university says.
It will take a concerted effort from a variety of stakeholders to improve things, those involved say.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Ute Indian tribe are honored during the game between the Utah Utes and the TCU Horned Frogs in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024.
Part of that effort will be defined by the next Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ute Tribe and the University of Utah. The latest version of the agreement, which gives the university permission to respectfully use the tribe’s name in athletics, expires in 2026. The U. has said it has proposed the idea of expanding the scholarship program to include students who identify as Ute but do not meet the tribe’s blood quantum requirements.
Kidd is one proponent of that expansion. She grew up on the reservation but does not meet the lineage requirements for the scholarship.
But nothing will stop her from trying to make a change in the meantime.
“We just try to make it easier,” Kidd said of her role in this new mentorship program.
Sometimes that’s as simple as bringing a freshman to their first football game at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Other times, it’s helping them navigate school work and financial aid.
“If you would have asked me as a freshman, I would’ve had no clue,” Kidd said. “Now I know a lot. I’ll most likely have an answer.”
There have been mixed results. One student has already dropped out, Kidd said. But another has thrived. “Now she’s doing great on her own,” she said.
It will take a lot more people like Kidd, who want to work to foster change. She is already looking forward to advising a larger group of Ute students next fall with whatever they need — whether that’s signing up for classes or taking a homesick student to the reservation for the weekend.
“It’s no problem,” Kidd said, “because I’m going to the same place.”
