Erin Cook knows where she came from and where she’s going. At least, she knows where she’s going for the next year. After that, the future opens up to myriad possibilities, and the energetic, ambitious 22-year-old Mohawk citizen is confident that she’s prepared to meet whatever challenges lie ahead. And she is dedicated to being a role model and mentor to younger members of her community of Akwesasne, a Mohawk territory on the border of Northern New York and Canada.

Cook graduated in May from St. Lawrence University, one of the premier liberal arts schools in the country, and the oldest continuously co-educational college in New York state. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in fine arts and a minor in education.

Immediately following commencement, Cook took part in another ceremony where she was commissioned as a second lieutenant, Military Intelligence, United States Army Reserves, 479th Engineer Battalion.

It was a significant day for the young woman who initially didn’t know what she would do at university.

“…It was important to me just to go. When I took my core subjects, right along with them I always took an art class, so I accidentally majored in art,” Cook said.

Imbued with a strong inherent streak of self-discipline, Cook would do her homework at lunchtime while other kids played volleyball in high school, because she wanted to get good grades for college.

“I think it said a lot about where I was going when I made that decision, because I had to stay focused when everyone else was having fun. I actually felt sorry for myself sometimes. But now that I look back, I just bought a new motorcycle and a lot of my friends haven’t had their first car yet.”

Her hard work in high school paid off  when she earned a full academic scholarship from New York’s Higher Education Opportunity Program.

But part way through college, Cook re-evaluated her path.

“I realized, ‘What am I going to do with an art major in the civilian world,’ so I decided to join the Reserve Officers Training Course. I wanted to be in the reserves so that even if I became my own artist and just worked for myself, I’d always have a promised income. And I was curious about the military because my grandfather and a lot of my family members were in the military.”

She took an ROTC class in her sophomore year, but still wasn’t sure if she wanted to commit to a military career.

“So I went and took a summer boot camp at Fort Knox in Kentucky. It was a pretty big challenge for me. I guess I never really had to push myself like that before, physically. I kind of didn’t know if I could do it and it took a while to think about it, and when I came back to the rez I worked doing landscaping and I thought, ‘You know what? A lot of people on the rez don’t realize how much they can do.’ A lot of things were happening that pushed me toward joining the military even though I questioned whether I could take it all on.”

She was 19 when she answered her own question: She told herself she had to be a role model, because she wanted to prove to everyone, especially the younger kids on the rez, that they could do whatever they put their minds to.

“I remember when I was a kid thinking that everyone just stays on the rez. We always just follow in our families’ footsteps, and they don’t really go off to be their own person and discover who they really are, and it was always very important to me to define myself in a different way and show others that you can go off and make your own path if you want to.”

Cook signed on as a reserve officer in the ROTC, a commitment that meant training while being a full-time student. It meant getting up at 5 a.m. every day and traveling 11 miles for physical training before returning and preparing for an 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. class. It meant being very tired most of the time.

“I was just notorious for falling asleep in that first class,” Cook said. “But it really helped me to have more discipline. I had to learn to balance everything and manage my time. I started becoming better in everything I did and I knew what I had to do.”

Cook was also an active member of St. Lawrence’s Native American Students Organization, and picked up a minor in education. During her final semester, she completed the university’s Professional Semester, in which she did student teaching in K-12 art in a local school district. As a result, the university recommended she be issued the initial teaching certification in K-12 art in New York state.

She will spend six months on active duty recruiting at St. Lawrence University. After that, she’ll be attending an officers’ leadership program and then will train in military intelligence next year as she pursues a career in law enforcement.

Cook intends to continue being a role model for young people at Akwesasne.

“It’s funny because people would never expect me to follow the rules, because I was such a rebel when I was younger, not breaking the law or anything, but I had an attitude and I used to talk back, and I was really quick with my words,” she says.” “I think that’s why the kids listen to me so much.”

It’s also likely that they listen because they know Cook understands the struggles and pressures they deal with.

“I was never the best at sports and I was never the smartest in the class, but you can do it as long as you believe in yourself and you work hard. So when I come home I try to tell my stories to young people and say this is how it was for me. This is what I did to overcome it.”