The Coca-Cola Foundation and The Fund Honor 36 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship Winners
April 21, 2011
The Coca Cola Foundation and the American Indian College Fund honored 36 American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2010-11 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship banquet at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship was established to provide $5,000 for tuition and fees and to fund unmet need for a student’s first year in college. If a student maintains at least a 3.0 grade point average and shows strong participation in campus and community life the first year and beyond, the scholarship is renewed every year throughout her tribal college career.
Kirk Glaze, the Community Affairs Manager of the Coca-Cola Foundation, was honored by Richard B. Williams, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, for the foundation’s support of American Indian education. Williams presented Glaze with a custom-beaded bolo bearing the Coca-Cola emblem.
Iva Croff, the Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship recipient at Blackfeet Community College who is double-majoring in Blackfeet language and Blackfeet studies, delivered a speech to her fellow students about the importance of education in her life. “Other than my family, I haven’t had anyone believe in me so much that they would invest in my education for three years. I will graduate this spring with my associate of arts degrees in Blackfeet language and Blackfeet studies, and had it not been for the College Fund and Coca Cola, it would have been very difficult to accomplish that in this timeframe. Thanks to them, I don’t think the word difficult was even part of my vocabulary during the past three years,” Croff said.
The following Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship recipients were honored at the event:
Denise Aldrich, Tohono O’odam Community College
Janice Mendez, Haskell Indian Nations University
Tammi Proulx, Bay Mills Community College
Cindy Knapp, Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College
Nicole McMullen, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College
Leila Northbird, Leech Lake Tribal College
Iva Croff, Blackfeet Community College
Laura Whitford, Blackfeet Community College
Anthony Morrison, Chief Dull Knife College
Shelley Schenderline, Salish Kootenai College
Jessie Bennett, Institute of American Indian Arts
Tyler Tarpalechee, Institute of American Indian Arts
Lyle Etsitty, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Tiffany Shortbull, Oglala Lakota College
Sophia Renville, Sisseton Wahpeton College
Talia Graves, Northwest Indian College
Ashley Bierman, College of Menominee Nation
Teresa Blueshield, Candeska Cikana Community College
Felix Delmar, Diné College
Virgil McLaughlin, Oglala Lakota College
Alyssa Jackson, Fort Belknap College
Matthew Yellow Wolf, Fort Berthold Community College
Jayde Clampitt, Fort Peck Community College
Kivvaq Nungasak, Ilisagvik College
Anastasia Gordon, Lac Courte Oreilles Community College
Rochelle Long Soldier, Little Big Horn College
Brandon LaMere, Little Priest Tribal College
Olivia Holiday, Navajo Technical College
Lindsey Adams, Oglala Lakota College
Lucelia Fire Cloud, Sinte Gleska University
Lindsey Larson, Sitting Bull College
Sterling Chase, Sitting Bull College
Antoinette Eagleman, Stone Child College
Vincent Wilkie, Turtle Mountain Community College
Lora GreyBear, United Tribes Technical College
Victoria LaFriniere, White Earth Tribal and Community College
