AP is a proud member of the Cherokee Nation and a rising senior at Thaden School in Bentonville, Arkansas.
At Thaden, AP is involved in student leadership and advocacy. He co-founded the school’s Indigenous Student Union and currently serves as Co-Chief. In this role, he led efforts to establish a campus-wide land acknowledgment and proposed the addition of Cherokee language courses for academic credit. AP also serves as Co-Chair for Community Outreach in Thaden’s Student of Color Union, where he helped market and promote the region’s Student Diversity Leadership Summit. In addition to his efforts at school, AP volunteered as the Team Mechanic for the 2024 Remember the Removal Bike Ride.
AP is a varsity athlete in basketball and track, and he races competitively in both mountain bike and gravel cycling. He took first in the MidSouth 50 (18u) and the Little Sugar 20K, and competed nationally at the USAC Gravel and MTB Championships, taking Fourth Place at MTB Nationals in 2022 (NonChamps). He is a Cat 1 cyclist and races for Thaden Cycling. AP credits his cycling success to his parents, coaches, OZ Devo, and his original AR NICA team, the Springdale Trailblazers. In addition to cycling, AP is a starter for his basketball team and ran at Track State in his school’s 4x200m team.
In addition to cycling and advocacy, AP was accepted to the University of Tulsa’s Honors College Summer Institute where he received three college credit hours. He also completed a certificate of proficiency with NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s bicycle maintenance program. AP plans to pursue Tribal Law in college, and hopes to continue advocating for his people.
