Students at UNLV showed out Tuesday to protest the construction of an oil pipeline in the Midwest.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is proposed to run from North Dakota to Illinois.
Many feel it would run too close to the Standing Rock Sioux Native American tribe and their land, including Isabelle Varela.
Varela is just weeks into her first college semester, and she's wasted no time getting involved.
"[This issue] matters everywhere," she said. "Just because it's over there, we are all one. We're all together, we are 'we the people.'"
The Standing Rock tribe says the pipeline would disturb sacred land and put their drinking water at risk.
As protesters chanted Tuesday, students walking by turned their heads and several stopped to ask questions and learn more.
"I just thought, 'Oh, it's another protest,' but it's actually something very serious," said Cerena Aguiran, a freshman.
Bradley Benavidez is a freshman too and he says it's cool to see his fellow students stand up for the issues they believe in.
"Back in high school, you never see much of protesters or things like this," Benavidez said.
The anti-pipeline side gained a small victory last week when the government put the pipeline's construction on pause, but a federal judge denied the tribe's request to stop altogether.
