Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
3
Lyle alumnus models resilience
for next generation of grads
Lyle High School
graduate talks
about challenges,
rewards of his
college experience
Stenberg
■ By For Deb
Lyle School District
History. Expectations.
Perceptions. They can lift kids
up. And, too often, they can
sink kids’ hopes.
But, every once in a while,
a kid comes along and listens
to his own heart — and his
mom. Joey Nelson was one of
those kids.
Nelson grew up and at-
tended public school in Lyle,
on the banks of the Columbia
River. Like many small, rural
schools, Lyle High School
operated on a bare bones
budget, managing to provide
a few extracurricular athletics
along with the core academic
subjects.
Some of Nelson’s peers
went to college. A few
high-achieving kids would
go to a four-year university
every year, sometimes even a
highly-ranked one. For most,
more often, there was a job
at the local mill or a place
in the military, or possibly a
technical program.
Nelson is an enrolled
member of the Yakama
Nation, and things were even
more complicated for Native
students — those expecta-
tions, beliefs and history can
be a difficult box to step out
of. But Nelson’s family had
made a few changes to those
expectations and beliefs.
His mom was tough on
him as he was growing up,
Nelson said, but she also
encouraged him to seek a life
better than hers. As she put
it, he was a “colored man in a
white man’s world,” so he had
to work hard, and sometimes
harder, to achieve what he
wanted.
His mom’s words stayed
with him. He played sports
and got good grades. He
stayed out of trouble. He
graduated in 2007 from Lyle
High School, at the top of his
class.
He applied to a single
college and was accepted on
a full-ride scholarship. Here,
too, his family had created a
history for him to look to: His
mom had taken some com-
munity colleges classes, and
two aunts had earned college
degrees a few decades before.
Into the unknown
Nelson arrived on
the Central Washington
University campus in the
fall of 2007 with no clear
outcome in mind, but he was
curious and positive. Mostly,
he knew that there was a lot
more outside of his previous
range of experience and he
chose not to limit himself.
Fast-forward 14 years to
the spring of 2021, Joey —
now Joseph Nelson, M.D
— took time from an intense
schedule to talk to a group
of juniors and seniors at his
old high school. Although
many things remain the same
at the school, technology
and the COVID-19 pandem-
ic had produced one big
change. Instead of making
an overnight trip, Nelson was
able to join the group, which
was split between home and
the classroom, via a remote
meeting program from his
home in Seattle.
Nelson asked questions
and prodded students to
think about possibilities. He
encouraged those with an
interest in college to apply,
emphasizing the availability
of financial aid.
He addressed a frequent
concern, the inevitable cul-
ture shock students feel going
from a high school with 80
students to a campus housing
more than 10,000 students.
For many young people who
have lived in a community
where they’ve known their
peers for most of their lives,
making friends in a larger,
often urban environment can
seem overwhelming.
Nelson shared that, when
faced with that situation,
he did what he knew and
loved to do best. He took a
basketball to a gymnasium
on campus and, before long,
found a group to play ball
with regularly. “On a campus
of that size, there are plenty
of groups with varied inter-
ests. You’ll find your people,”
he assured the students.
Now a second-year Family
Medicine resident at the
University of Washington in
Seattle, Nelson shared the
journey of self-discovery that
brought him to a position as
medical doctor at a na-
tionally-respected hospital
system that treats critically
ill and injured patients from
throughout the Northwest.
Sometimes, you
don’t know your
own strengths
It’s not surprising that
Nelson didn’t take the usual
path on his way to his chosen
career. Nelson wasn’t one of
those kids who always knew
he wanted to be a doctor. He
had no plans to major in a
science field at all, for that
matter. During his first year
in college, he did what a lot
of students do. He acclimat-
ed. He took prerequisites,
the foundational classes he
needed for whatever major
and career path he pursued.
He looked at options.
But it wasn’t until he
walked through a career fair
at the college that he realized
he might be interested in a
career in science and decided
to take a biology class. He
found he had an affinity for
it. Unlike so many people in
medical careers, he didn’t
have the advantage of a
rigorous high school science
program with plenty of fund-
ing. As a result, he says he
was simultaneously “terrified
of science, but excited for the
challenge.”
With an open and engag-
ing personality, he quickly
found mentors who helped
him build his network. He
was named a Udall Scholar
for his interest in tribal
Thank
you
Victoria Abbott
Carol Adams
Adewale Agboola
Aaron Albalah
Charlene Ames
Soleil Ammon
Russo Andrew
JoElla Anglin
Lynne Annett
Tim Arbogast
Yvonne Arbogast
Melissa Arndt
Kelly Asbridge
Jana Austin-Jacobson
Elsa Avila Castañeda
Laurie Babb
Craig Bachman
Mike Ballah
Judy Bankman
Karla Barajas
Tina Baresh
Nestor Barragan
Brian Barrett
Christine Barthmus
Megan Bassett
Andrea Baumann
Michele Beaman
Molly Beard
Ann Becker
Sarah Bellinson
Robert Benton
Cheryl Berger
Kassen Bergstrom
Ruth Berkowitz
Anne Bernard
Elaine Betts
Tor Bieker
Paul Blackburn
Jeff Blackman
Carol Blanusa
Emilie Blevins
Barbara Blizzard
Agi Bofferding
Peg Bogard
Mary Bokovoy
John Boonstra
Eileen Brady
James Brauer
Jan Brauer
Grant Braun
Athelea Brevard
Bill Brewer
Jose Briones
Karen Broderick
Heather Brooks
Laila S Brown
Charles Bugge
Ally Bugliari
Suz Burd
Gabriela Bustos
Ryan Butler
Dominic Buttaccio
Julie Byers
Patricia Byrnes
Jennifer Calderilla
Stacey Campbell
Jeff Campbell
Janie Cardwell
Dave Carter
Maribeth Chambers
Joshua Channell
Megan Channell
Selena Chijate
Graham Clark
Quin Clarkson
Natalie Clay
Michael Clement
Nancy Clement
Jacob Cook
Kirsten Cook
Adam Cook
Patricia Cooper
Sarah Cordeiro
Erin Costello
Rachel Crowder
Paul Crowley
Ryan Cruse
Claire Culbertson
Mark Dane
Martha Daniels
Christian Danielsen
Ana Davis
Laura Davis
laird Davis
Theo Davis
Megan Davis
Ben Davis
Linda Densmore
Greg Densmore
Joella Dethman
Miranda Dezurick
Mike Dicken
Jean Dills
Vanessa Lalli Dittenhofer
Greg Doan
Debra Dobbs
Margery Dogotch
Kevin Donald
Jane Duncombe
Marianne Durkan
Erik/Kathy Eastman
Christina Eastman
Maria Eby
Michelle Edwards
Tracie Egeland
Trish Elliott
Karen Enns
Kate Ensor
Mary Fassel
Ellisa Fellows
Guy Fenner
Jessalyn Fey
Melanie Finstad
Rhonda Fischer
Alison Fitts
Cathy Fitzpatrick
Beth Flake
Lorene Flaming
Silvia Flores
Luz Flores
Kay Floria
Nancy Foley
Chung Fong
Danielle Forsyth
Susan Froehlich
Mark Fuller
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Cristina Garcia
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Anne Gehrig
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Monika Gerde
Tally Godkin
Kathy Goe
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Luz Elena Gordian Valdez
Maggie Goter
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Mikey Goyette
Josh Green
Charlotte Gregson
Trevor Gregson
Claire Griffin
Christy Grimm
Grace Grimm
Jose Gruart
Cristina Gudor
Brent Guinn
Genevieve Guinn
Colleen Haggerty
Sean Hallissey
Adele Hammond
Molly Harman
Laurel Harper
Jennifer Harris
Jenny Harris
Clint Harris
Alison Harrod
Lori Harrod
Michael Harrod
Sean Harrod
Jennifer Hart
John Hart
Kurt Harter
Jeff Heater
Kristi Heck
Gus Hedberg
Leah Hedberg
Nigel Heinemann
Taylor Heinemann
Debbie Hendrickx
David Henne
DeeDee Hennessy
Robin Henson
Lisa Henzler
Cathy Higgins
Jill Hilderbrand
Jan Holibaugh
Victoria Hopkins, PA
Francesca Huey
Tami Hukari
Fletcher Hukari
Jason Hume
Eva Hume
Jeff Hunter
Robert Imhoff
David Ingraham
Courtney Jackson
John Jacobson
Julia Johnson
Phil Johnson
Sirota Johnston
Matt Johnston
Leslie Jones
Nik Jones
Madeliene Jones
Henry Jones
Karen Joplin
Jen K
Brandon Kammer
Lindsay Kammer
Tim Keenen
Carrie Kennedy
Taylor Kennedy
Lindsay Kenyon
Leslie Kerr
Elizabeth Kinney
Amy Klee
Margaret Koenig
Nathan Koenig
Shannon Kossar
Gloria Kowalski
Joshua Kramer
Angela Krause
Dr. Joey Nelson sets out cards during an event. The Lyle grad en-
couraged graduating seniors to stay open to the possibilities.
Contributed photo
public policy and healthcare.
After spending a summer
in Boston participating in a
research program through
Harvard Medical School
and Brigham and Women’s
Hospital, his interest in med-
icine grew stronger. Upon
graduation from college, he
worked in an emergency
department in Yakima as a
medical scribe for two years.
He then applied to and was
accepted at the University
of Washington School of
Medicine, where he earned
his medical doctorate before
starting residency.
Along the way, there
were inevitable obstacles:
Financial hurdles, cultural
differences, and stereotypes,
including oft-made racially
charged statements: “You
only got here because you’re
an Indian,” or “Must be nice
to have free college tuition.”
The latter, Nelson explained,
is based on a widely be-
lieved falsehood that Native
Americans and Alaska
Natives go to college for free.
In fact, very few NA/AI peo-
ple make it to college, largely
due to systemic barriers, lack
of mentorship, and institu-
tional racism, he said.
These days, Nelson’s
typical day is not for the faint
of heart: Waking up early and
having a quick cup of coffee
before spending his next
12-14 hours seeing a diverse
patient panel in his clinic at
Harborview, managing those
who are critically ill in the
hospital, or learning from
doctors who are experts in
their field.
All this when he’s not
covering overnight shifts,
delivering babies, or provid-
ing care to Alaska Natives in
Juneau and the island village
of Kake. He is an advocate for
diversity, equity and inclu-
sion at UW and is a mentor
for others as they embark
on their own journeys into
medicine. His successes have
awarded him with recogni-
tion through scholarship,
publication, and leadership
positions.
He continues to play
basketball and is engaged
to Dr. Claire Simon, another
resident in his program. Their
plans include devoting the
early years of their careers to
working in disadvantaged ru-
ral communities, after they’ve
completed their training.
And, always, staying open
to the possibilities, because
there’s no telling where they
will lead.
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Thank you to all the volunteers who helped staff clinics and the
call center. Because of you, Hood River County has surpassed the
70% vaccination rate.
Trent Kroll
Zip (Michael) Krummel
Nate Kuder
Andre Landau
Gretchen Lape
Meghan Larivee
Anna-Louise Laxague
Tom Lebsack
Haley Lebsack
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Ruth Longland
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Shawne Martinez
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William McClure
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Katelyn Mock
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Zeke (Ken) Neal
Deborah Neft
Barbara Nelson
Anna Neraas
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Patrick Newman
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