Rooted in Storytelling: Trinity Norris

Trinity Norris, Komckud E’waosidk ceksan,who holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Digital Journalism

from the University of Arizona and is passionate about ensuring that Native storytelling is done

correctly. Trinity also has been passionate in ensuring Native student success at the University

through her community work in organizations such as Indigicat Student Association ands

Tohono O’odham Student Association (TOSA). Trinity has consistently, up until 2024, been heading and

bringing Indigenous Peoples’ Day to campus, with different groups and singers from various

Tribal Nations here in Arizona. An event that brought the Native community together on campus

and over 300+ students. With TOSA, she helped in bringing Waila, Tohono O’odham chicken

scratch music, to campus through the Let’s Waila event helping showcase one of the many cool

traditions that the O’odham people and sharing this with other students from different tribes. My

favorite memory of Trinity is when we did our first Kehina, O’odham traditional singing and

dancing for a TOSA welcome back event in 2024. We started the event at 8 pm and when we

got to the grass, there were already so many people from our home, our community already

there. Later that evening, during the first singers, I remember watching everyone dance, the

singers and the elders moving their legs or feet to the songs and looking over at Trinity and

being able to share this moment with her. The heartfelt moment of seeing how much we love

our community and people, and they were right there with us supporting us back. Through every

event, Trinity has always poured her love into it and it was something you could feel in every

one, no matter what event it was. I am blessed to have been able to share these experiences

with her. I also get to be her best friend.

-Winona Little Owl-Ignacio

Trinity Norris is dedicated to uplifting Indigenous voices. She has excelled at this in the IRes

newsletter and social media, as well as through her work as a freelance journalist and

photographer. Now she will continue this work with her M.A. in Global Media from the University

of Arizona. Her graduate project was an innovative reimagining of the Runner newspaper on the

Tohono O’odham Nation. Trinity approaches her work from a strength-based approach, not a

deficit model, and she can give you a long list of Indigenous innovators from whom she draws

inspiration, from elders to Native metal bands. We have been fortunate to have Trinity work as

the IRes Marketing and Communication Graduate Student. I remember traveling with Trinity to

Baboquivari School in Sells. We toured the campus with students, visited their garden, and

learned about growing food in the region. Trinity not only took great photos of the event but also

shared her journey as a Baboquivari student. 

Trinity is committed and professional with a keen eye for good photos and great stories. We are

thrilled to announce that Trinity has been awarded the 2026 Indigenous Youth Fellowship. In her

project, Trinity will document meaningful words and stories about food sovereignty and

language. To see more of Trinity’s work, visit her website here: and read about it here. On behalfof the IRes team, thank you for your ongoing contribution to IRes. We look forward to ongoing

collaborations with you.

--Torran Anderson, Community Outreach Manager