Year: 2009 Blogs

My name is Jennifer DeVerney and I work at Herzing University as an Intern and Employer Outreach Specialist with the Career Services Department. I am a proud member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians located from Manistee, Michigan. I have worked really hard to get to where I am today, and have been blessed to hold a career in education where I help change people’s lives on a daily basis regardless of their race.

American Indian College Fund President and CEO Richard B. Williams and Casey Lozar, Director of Corporate and Tribal Relations, will appear on Colorado and Company on Channel 9, KUSA-TV in Denver on Thursday, September 24, from 10-11 a.m.

We will be running a series of guest blogs about what it means to “Think Indian” in today’s world. This week we will run the first of our guest blogs. “Thinking Indian” is not just a slogan or idea put out by the American Indian College Fund. “Thinking Indian” is how people in the Native community live their lives and strike the balance between their lives as Indian people and mainstream society in college, in family life, and in the workplace.

On Sunday, we were thrilled to meet LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson and support a charity near and dear to his heart. Jackson has been a long-time supporter of the American Indian College Fund, and will be one of our celebrity co-chairs for the Fund’s 20th Anniversary Flame of Hope Gala in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, October 28.

We are looking for tribal college students, faculty, and staff who want to share their stories about what it means to Think Indian—as commentary posts, guest bloggers.

Fund staffers Dina Horwedel and Jonas Greene had the opportunity to present information to the Native American Journalists Association about the Think Indian campaign and how an advertisement can tell a story. As part of the program, they discussed how using social media such as Twitter, blogs, and Facebook can move a story forward.

According to the Pell Institute, only 11% of first-generation students earn a degree within six years. There are many reasons for this. First-generation students are less prepared than their counterparts, they did not get help choosing a college that is a good fit for them, their families often discourage them from getting a higher education, and being unfamiliar with college culture, rather than immersing themselves in it, they withdraw.

This week the team at the American Indian College Fund embarks on a one-day retreat to recharge and regenerate, learning about leadership principles and applying them in our mission to provide scholarships and access to higher education for all of our students. We will be out of the office all day Wednesday.

After Independence Day, one thing strikes me: if American Indians are ever going to be free of poverty and being treated as second-class citizens, education is vital. Education does not just mean the basics: the math, the science, the language and reading skills: education also means being educated in the Indian way. Learning our native languages. Learning our traditions and ways as Indian people, and preserving them.