A Yupi'k man who felt too white in his Native village and too Native in the big city graduated with honors from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Quentin Simeon grew up doing drugs and getting into trouble. After he moved to Anchorage, he had some trouble with the law but turned his life around after getting married and after winning the 2002 Native Oratory Society contest, his first of four wins.

Simeon was chosen by fellow graduates as their commencement speaker. "If I had given up on myself, I would not be a father, a husband, a graduate, or even alive," he said, The Anchorage Daily News reported.

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He shed 'too white' and 'too Native' to find himself (The Anchorage Daily News 5/17)
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