I’ve been going to school off and on for eight years now. It may be another four years before I get my master’s degree in education! My gram laughs and says, “You’re going to be an old lady by the time you finish school and start working!” I just laugh along with her.
My hometown, Unalakleet, is an Inupiaq village located in the Norton Sound region of Alaska. We get a great deal of wind in our area because Unalakleet is located right on the coast: the Bering Sea. The town consists of about 750 people year-round. Most residents are of Inupiat Eskimo descent. The non-Natives that reside in Unalakleet are mostly teachers.
Last week I accompanied five American Indian College Fund Scholars to the United Health Foundation’s Annual Diverse Scholars Forum in Washington, D.C. These students have been supported by the United Health Foundation with scholarships to pursue degrees ranging from physical therapy and exercise science to nursing and health occupations.
I remember the cold winters we had in the past, but this winter most likely beat the record low. Temperatures below zero are very common for Alaskan winters. Our winters typically last from mid-October to the end of May. This year we didn’t get our first snowfall until early November, so we thought maybe “Global Warming” was finally taking its toll. Boy, were we wrong! It wasn’t until January that the cold really hit us. It slapped us in the face!
I am Therese. I just completed my first semester at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I am on Create My Canvas Path, majoring in studio arts and museum studies. My Native affiliation is what I refer to as “mixed media”-Native, Mayan, and Mexican.
My name is Lee. I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota and I’m an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe. I’m a full student at Leech Lake Tribal College and will be entering my second year of college in the fall. I will be transferring to the University of Kansas to complete a degree in biochemistry.
Hello all! My name is Amber. My Inupiat name is Kapuqqaq (pronounced “ga-bu-kuk”). I am a tribal member of the Native Village of Unalakleet, located on the Northwest coast of Alaska. The community itself consists of roughly 750 people year-round.
One thousand firefighters are in the back yard of the American Indian College Fund headquarters, battling Colorado’s third largest forest fire in history, dubbed the High Park Fire. And there’s a good chance that several firefighters are American Indians, thanks to Salish Kootenai College’s firefighting program in Pablo, Montana.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC) graduate Reginnah Weah had a lot to celebrate last week. Reginnah achieved her childhood dream by graduating with a degree in nursing. And Reginnah, a refugee from Liberia, a West African nation that went through a devastating civil war, may have also been celebrating the fact that she will sleep better knowing that her country’s former president, Charles Taylor, was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for crimes against humanity.
As many scholars celebrate their way across the stages at graduation many proceed with a sense of personal style and expression. I remember attending a graduation for the University of Notre Dame and there a row of graduates collectively spelled J.O.B.L.E.S.S across their graduate caps. Others, like a group of students from my own graduation at Texas Tech University, sent out messages honoring family or appreciation to those who helped them make this milestone accomplishment possible.
