HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Bitsoi's official role at Harvard is director of Minority Training in Genomics/Informatics in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. His more physical side came into play last spring, when Bitsoi became a double silver medalist at the 2004 USA Open National Volleyball Championships in Atlanta. The only Harvard member of a graduate club team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bitsoi helped his teammates advance to the finals in the men's A division. Bitsoi plays for fun and exercise, but admits to being competitive. Without the intensity of wanting to win, he says, there would be no medals.

A member of the Navajo (Dine') Nation, Bitsoi grew up on the Navajo reservation in the Four Corners area of New Mexico. He is a first-generation college graduate, and the first from his hometown community to attend Harvard. All six of his siblings attended college - no small feat for his mother, who quit school after junior high when she was punished for speaking Navajo in class. Says Bitsoi, "It is to my mother and grandmother that I owe the most. I come from strong people."

Indeed he does. Bitsoi's grandmother is going on 103.

Maintaining family ties, as well as his native traditions, are important to him; Bitsoi returns home for visits about five times a year.

"I do believe I am helping my people by being at Harvard, so people can see someone like themselves and aspire to be here. Last May, I went back to my elementary school and spoke. I gave the kids Harvard pens, and signed notes on Harvard stationery. They were thrilled. Then I spoke at my high school two days later. I emphasized the need for perseverance, for developing character, of being mindful of our elders, of respecting our identity. I introduced myself in Navajo, and then I spoke in English. Three of my nieces and nephews graduated, so it was a very special day for me."

And special as well for the Navajo youth who can now dare to trek the rugged trail from Navajo Land to Cambridge, already blazed by a native son.