Tribal student finds voice in politics, law through college involvement

When Dosa Nappo traveled the 500-mile fishhook route from Fort Hall, through Boise to the Moscow campus it was at the behest of University of Idaho’s Tribal Nation Student Affairs recruitment program.

The university association recruits tribal members from across the state and urges them to earn a college education.

What the Shoshone-Bannock tribal member found at U of I was community, mentorship and a new direction.

The high schooler who played baseball and wanted to be a cop, enrolled as a Vandal in 2020 and graduated four years later with degrees in criminology and sociology. It was his experience as an intern for the Shoshone-Bannock tribal council and as a member for U of I student senate, however, that made him consider a legal career.

“I wanted to be a law enforcement officer so I could help people,” said Nappo, now a first-year law student at the University of Idaho College of Law said. “As a member of ASUI, I started to see that maybe a career in politics or law would allow me to reach out to more people.”

Nappo said his two semesters as a student body representative, forging bills, collecting signatures for petitions, crafting resolutions and meeting with university and community leaders — as well as his role as a student mentor at the Tribal Nation Student Affairs — motivated him to continue his education.

“My confidence was at its highest after that. I felt proud and accepted coming from a minority group,” he said.

After earning his bachelor’s last year, Nappo applied to the College of Law and was accepted.

“I only knew one person in my tribe who had ever attended law school,” he said.

Throughout his college career, Nappo returned to Fort Hall during the summers, working for various tribal government departments. In summer 2025 he used what he learned as a student body senator and his first-year law school knowledge, at Shoshone-Bannock Energy — his tribe’s power company — to help update its utility codes.

A recent internship at tribal council helped Nappo better understand his tribe, its government and history and sparked an interest in being involved in his tribe’s government.

Nappo recalls how intimidating his first year was at U of I. The small-town Idahoan who grew up on the reservation had not lived in a city; the Fort Hall Indian Reservation’s population is around 5,000 tribal members, and the reservation encompasses about 800 square miles of Bannock and Bingham counties near the southeastern corner of the Gem State.

“I was a first-generation college student from the rez,” he said. “I was a quiet and shy student.”

Fellow students at the Tribal Nations Student Affairs helped him get involved on campus and encouraged him.

Nappo said he had not planned to attend college after high school, but learning about the opportunities at U of I — and then the experience he gained by taking advantage of them — altered his life’s mission.

“U of I really changed my trajectory,” he said.

Before his first year of law school Nappo enrolled in a pre-law school boot camp designed to prepare students for the rigors of law school.  He learned to write legal briefs and participated in a moot court with volunteer judges and attorneys where he argued cases.

Besides learning law school basics, the boot camp made him eager to start his legal career.

Nappo’s future may include running for office in Tribal Government or becoming a legal advocate.

“When I go home, I try to get involved with my tribe as much as possible and learn how I can be the most beneficial to them,” he said.