Clearing the Path to Water and Global Advocacy

I never imagined that after completing two engineering degrees at Stanford University, I would still be blocked from continuing my education—not by lack of ability or purpose, but by an outstanding university bill that has now gone to collections.

My name is Anpo. I was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I am an Oglala Lakota environmental engineer, writer, and advocate, and my work sits at the intersection of water, health, and Indigenous sovereignty. I earned my B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from Stanford with one clear goal: to bring knowledge home and serve Indigenous and rural communities facing ongoing water and environmental crises.

I have established this fundraiser to remove the financial barrier so I can move forward.

Over the years, I have led community-based water quality studies on Lakota lands, training youth to collect and analyze water samples to protect sacred sites and community health. I have worked with Indigenous communities globally through environmental health advocacy, UN policy spaces, and youth leadership programs. Through poetry and storytelling, I have amplified youth voices from Pine Ridge to Kenya to Syria. Everything I do is rooted in giving back.

Yet unresolved educational debt has a way of quietly closing doors, I am currently unable to access my official university transcripts, which has significantly impeded my ability to pursue future educational opportunities. It has complicated applications related to enrollment, fellowships and graduate assistantships.

Since graduating, I have spoken on the UN floor numerous times advocating for safe and clean water and for the meaningful inclusion of children and youth in global policy. I founded Anpoetry, a self-publishing venture that allows me to share my own story while elevating the voices of others I meet along the way. It was through this work that Hero Dreams Shine was born.

Through the Hero Dreams Shine Initiative on Instagram, I highlight young people from Canada, Iran, Zambia and Syria, who are merging their skills with the world’s most pressing challenges—demonstrating what it looks like to turn purpose into action. Most recently, through the Chemical and Waste Youth Platform, I worked alongside other youth advocates to successfully influence international policy by securing the inclusion of children and youth in official treaty language. I also observed treaty drafting in South Korea related to the Global Plastics Treaty, gaining firsthand experience in how environmental policy is shaped. I served as co-chair of the Global Biodiversity Youth Network x UNEP. I co-designed the Youth4Nature: Biodiversity Challenge, a program piloted in Kenya and South Africa that empowers youth to address biodiversity loss worldwide.

Hero Dreams Shine is about following your dreams. But I am not just a dreamer—I am a doer. When there was limited water quality data in the Black Hills, I organized tribal college students and other young people to collect data together, which demystified water testing, and built local capacity.

Paying off this bill would mean:

• I can continue advanced research on water systems in South Dakota

• I can keep training and mentoring Indigenous youth

• I can ensure that years of education and community commitment are well-invested

This is a one-time need with long-term impact.

If you choose to support this fundraiser, you are not just helping me pay a bill. Together we will remove barriers that stand between Indigenous communities and the water justice, infrastructure solutions, and representation they deserve.

If you can give, thank you.
If you can share, that matters just as much.
And if you believe that education should lead to service—not lifelong barriers—this story is for you.

With gratitude and resolve,
Anpo