As part of Native American Heritage Month, join the Pacific community in welcoming Representative Christina Haswood. She'll share her insights as a young indigenous woman and as a member of the Kansas State Legislature. The event will also be livestreamed for those unable to attend in-person.

Christina Haswood has a public health background and is a lifelong district resident of District 10, which she represents in the Kansas House of Representatives. At age 28, Christina is amongst the younger members of the Kansas Legislature and is one of three Native Americans elected into the 2021-2022 Legislative session.

Christina’s parents moved to Lawrence from the Navajo reservation in Arizona in pursuit of a better life and more opportunities. They made the tough decision to raise Christina and her brother in Lawrence. Christina and her family struggled with poverty and had to rely on public resources such as WIC, Section 8 Housing funding, reduced-fee school lunch, and Tribal clothing programs while growing up.

Christina attended Prairie Park Elementary, Billy Mills Middle School, and Lawrence High School (class of 2012), where she played varsity basketball, volleyball, and the violin in the orchestra. After graduation, she moved on to in-district Haskell Indian Nations University where she persevered to achieve an Associate's degree in Community Health. She then transferred to Arizona State University, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Public Health. Most recently, Christina graduated with a Master's in Public Health Management from the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2020.

Christina lives in Lawrence and currently works as a contractor when not in the Kansas Legislative Session. She is running to bring public health expertise to the state government during a time of unprecedented crisis, and to bring equity to Kansans.