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June 21 marked the first day of summer solstice. Summer was traditionally a busy time among Native peoples, as sedentary tribes planted gardens and tended to their crops; and nomadic peoples followed the moving animals across the landscape and hunted and fished. Summers were and still are a time of bounty.

Be sure to watch our blog this week as Jonas Greene and Jaime Aguilar set out for South Dakota to visit tribal colleges, interview students, and learn about their projects, passions, challenges and joys.

Most of us who have achieved a measure of success in our lives had someone special who believed in us—a family member, teacher, coach, or other caring individual who provided encouragement at a critical time. I was raised by my grandmother from the time I was five months old. We were very poor, often living on less than $50 per month. At times we went without real food for weeks, subsisting solely on coffee and homemade bread.

The Public Education team of the American Indian College Fund is on the road, filming students at tribal colleges and universities. Students at Tohono O’odham Community College, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic University, Navajo Technical College, Institute of American Indian Arts, Northwest Indian College, Oglala Lakota College, Sinte Gleska University, and College of Menominee Nation will be filmed.

On April 9, the journalism world lost a fine journalist, activist, and teacher. Minnie Two Shoes (Assiniboine from the Ft. Peck reservation in Montana) passed on. She was a founder of the Native American Journalist Association, tireless teacher, journalist, and activist. Godspeed, Minnie.

Our sympathies and best wishes go out to the friends and family of Wilma Mankiller, who passed on from cancer this week. Mankiller was an author, lecturer and former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She served 12 years in elected office at the Cherokee Nation, the first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by 10 years as Principal Chief.

This week I have been made proud by a tribal college student and graduate in the STEM fields that are Thinking Indian. Marie, a second-year student at Leech Lake Tribal College in Minnesota in liberal studies with a STEM emphasis, was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as one of its 105 best and brightest interns and fellows for the NASA Student Ambassador Program.

I thought I would take the opportunity this President’s Day to reflect on what it means to be a good leader. Although this holiday was established to celebrate United States presidents, I would like to honor American Indian tribal presidents and chairpeople and tribal college presidents who serve in important leadership roles throughout Indian Country.

In the next few months, we will be revamping this blog to reflect the voices of our students, our tribal college communities, and American Indian communities from across the country. We are seeking contributors that are Native professors, teachers, community members, and students.

As 2010 begins, we at the Fund wish all good things and every success for our supporters and our students. Without our supporters, our students could not go on to achieve the astounding successes that they have over the past 20 years. And our students are our future in Indian Country–without them we would not be able to continue our lifeways, our culture.