After an amazing visit in Tulalip, Phillip and I continued north to Lummi where we had the great fortune of taking part in honoring the return of the salmon. During the annual First Salmon Ceremony, the Lummi people celebrate the return of the salmon to the region’s rivers. There were hundreds of tribal members and visitors gathered to take part the honoring. The treat of fresh-caught salmon was a delicious detour on our visit to the Northwest Indian College main campus.
Inside the College Fund Blogs
Northwest Indian College Visit
This week the tribal college tour continued to Northwest Indian College. We recruited former College Fund Media Manager Phillip Hillaire (Lummi) to serve as a liaison to his Native community. Of the tribal colleges, Northwest Indian College (NWIC) is very well known for pioneering distance learning programs.
Salish Kootenai College Visit
We arrived in Missoula, Montana on Sunday May 9 on this leg of our video project. It is Mother’s Day and we headed north to Polson to set up our base camp for the next three nights on the southwest side of Flathead Lake. We were only 80 miles away but took longer than expected through the rain and stopping to take the time to capture the picturesque landscape going along roads lined with Salish and Kootenai-translated street signs leading to the reservation.
SIPI Commencement Ceremonies
The campus is quiet because classes are over, but we make time to get stories about the new head start facilities on campus(which is available for the students) and we managed to run into a few of the dedicated science students still working on their projects and research.
Institute of American Indian Arts visit
We made our way from Crownpoint to Santa Fe to visit the Institute of American Indian Arts, “the nation’s only fine arts college devoted solely to the artistic and cultural traditions of all American Indians.” IAIA has produced many of the top names in Native art. The school is a hot bed for up and coming filmmakers and artists, but also museum archivists and lawyers.
Navajo Technical College – Filming Trip
We drove in to Crownpoint late Sunday evening, dragging in the inclement weather is synonymous with the season’s spring winds and cool rains. We checked into the Navajo Technical College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center and got ready for our adventure awaiting us here in the Land of Enchantment.
Congratulations to Our Tribal College Students of the Year and Dr. Robert Martin
Thirty-three tribal college students were honored at the AIHEC Student Conference in Chandler, Arizona for their achievements as being named Students of the Year.
Coca-Cola First Generation Scholars Honored
Making the transition to college is hard for anyone, but when a student is a first-generation college student, the transition is even more difficult, because they do not have the family resources to help guide them through the process.
Ft. Lewis Tuition Waiver
We have been receiving calls and questions about the Ft. Lewis College (located in Durango, Colorado) tuition waiver and its history in the wake of a proposed bill that would strip $1.8 million from Fort Lewis College’s budget. House Bill 10-1067, sponsored by Karen Middleton, D-Aurora, would reduce the per-student amount the state reimburses the school for out-of-state Indian students. Middleton said the bill’s passage would have no impact on the promise to educate American Indians free of charge.
Intellectual Capital in Indian Country
This past week we spent two days hearing about the projects that the tribal colleges have been implementing over the past year for the Woksape Oyate Wisdom of the People project.
