Class of 2004

>» JONATHEA TSO wins Miss Navajo Nation crown.

"My mom said she always knew I was going to run for Miss Navajo Nation because I made crowns out of hay bailing wire when I was little," laughs the Cove, Arizona, native. Tso was crowned last September after a week-long pageant in which the 18- to 25-year-old contestants had to butcher a sheep and prepare a meal, answer Navajo cultural questions in both English and Navajo, demonstrate a traditional skill (Tso's was weaving) and perform a talent. She performed a mountain song she learned from her grandmother while herding sheep. "It's a pageant about your language, about your culture and about being able to live it every day," says Tso, who double majored in environmental studies and Native American studies.

Tso calls her new role a "dream job," partly because it allows her to continue the community service work she learned to embrace at Dartmouth. "The Navajo Nation gives you transportation, funding and all these resources to work on projects that will help your people," says Tso. "What job at this young age would enable you to sit with the president of the Navajo Nation and give your opinions?" When her year-long reign concludes she plans to complete her Navajo language certification and attend graduate school. "It's my passion to be able to speak Navajo to the best of my ability and to demonstrate our culture to children across the Navajo Nation," says Tso. "You can't just stop when your reign is over. The former Miss Navajos tell you, 'Once a Miss Navajo Nation, always a Miss Navajo Nation.'"