Archives Blogs

Browse by Category

American Indian College Fund Director, Joe Pytka, Receives One Club Honor

Contrary to the above headline, advertising legend Joe Pytka is most known for the hundreds of commercials he’s directed for the world’s largest brands including Nike, Pepsi, McDonalds, and the NFL.  Pytka also directed iconic music videos such as Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel ” that had a profound impact on all of us whose formative years were spent during the golden age of MTV.

Northwest Indian College Team Selected for NASA Student Rocket Launch

Congratulations to Team SkyWalkers, Northwest Indian College’s (NWIC) team that will be part of this year’s NASA Student Launch Initiative April 21 near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NWIC’s team was one of 42 nationwide selected to participate in the program this year. Team SkyWalkers is comprised of more than 12 students from five tribes ranging from age 19 to 58 and advised by NWIC faculty member Gary Brandt, who has taught the sciences, electronics, and robotics at NWIC since 1989.

Student Punished for Speaking Native Language

A Menominee high school student in Wisconsin was punished for speaking her Native language there. She was teaching other students how to say specific words, such as “hello,”, “thank you,” and “good bye” in her Native tongue. Her teacher said it was inappropriate because she could not understand what she was saying and therefore could not monitor her speech.

How Tribal Colleges Reverse Boarding School Native Education Legacy

Education was a tool used by the U.S. government to try to assimilate American Indians. This Week in Indian Country’s piece, “Schools for Scandal,” illustrates the history behind U.S. policy to assimilate American Indians in boarding schools. Richard Henry Pratt, a former U.S. Army officer, summed up the government policy in the late 1800s that was carried forward into the early 1900s

Scholarships Available! Apply Today!

The American Indian College Fund is the largest of minority scholarship providers for Native American students nationwide. Yet many qualified Native students don’t get scholarships because they don’t apply! Many forget to apply or don’t want to write an essay. As a result, they are missing out on thousands of dollars.

Give a Native Child the Gift of Reading

American Indian children could benefit greatly from the gift of reading this holiday season. The statistics on Native high school students who must enter remedial English upon entering college are alarming. Reading is the foundation of every course in college. Strong reading skills lead to strong writing skills, and both are the basis for success in not just English class, but chemistry, biology, engineering, and more.

The Herman Lissner Foundation’s Remarkable Legacy Funds Native Business Scholarships

The American Indian College Fund (the Fund) received a remarkable gift this year. The Herman Lissner Foundation granted the Fund $100,000 for Native student scholarships. The Fund regularly enjoys gifts from its corporate, individual, and foundation donors, but this gift stood out because of the personal nature of the donors who established the New York based non-profit foundation.

Friday, June 10 Flooding Updates

The rain, plus heavy snowpack beginning to melt in the Rocky Mountains, has the Army Corps of Engineers increasing water releases through the six Missouri River dams to get rid of water as quickly as possible as flooding continues.