12:08 PM CST on Monday, January 3, 2005

Kimberly Solet / Houma Courier

HOUMA -- Christy Duthu, 24, a United Houma Nation tribal member, is featured as the January 2005 model in the American Indian Beauties calendar, an annual production sponsored by Rez Dog Clothing Co.

Houma Courier

Christy Duthu

Duthu, who was born and raised in Houma, graduated from Ellender High in 1998. She is the oldest child of Gail and Chris Duthu of Houma.

Christy Duthu, who has lived in Baton Rouge the past six years attending school at Louisiana State University, already has a degree in geology, but she is currently pursuing another bachelor’s in mathematics. Her goal is to enter the master’s program in meteorology at Florida State, eventually relocate to Oklahoma or Kansas and spend her career chasing Midwestern tornadoes.

Her passion for the mysterious, devastating twisters was sparked in the mid-1980s when, at the age of 7, a tornado tore apart the Duthu family’s Grand Caillou home.

"It’s a lifelong fascination," said Duthu.

With support from United Houma Nation headquarters in Golden Meadow, Duthu was selected earlier this year to pose as Miss January for Rez Dog, an American Indian-owned clothing company that has published the calendar for three years.

She beat out 150 other contestants for the modeling gig, which features a dozen girls from 12 different tribes across the country. Duthu’s bikini-clad picture was shot in Wisconsin’s Lac du Flambeau.

Duthu calls herself an aspiring scientist, not a model. But she said posing for the popular calendar was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to publicize and raise awareness of the Houma tribe.

"It was a great experience and I hope it inspires more girls around here to get involved," said Duthu. "Growing up down here you don’t really get the feel of the culture of Native Americans because it’s not very culturized. But when I went on my trip I learned so much about Native Americans that I didn’t know about."

Duthu works as assistant to the vice president of the LSU Foundation. She has two younger brothers, Dugan, 21, and Chris, 14.