March 12, 2018, Denver, Colo.— The Coca Cola Foundation and the American Indian College Fund honored 35 American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2017-18 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship banquet at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The American Indian College Fund honored Dr. Cynthia Lindquist, President of Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Ft. Totten, North Dakota, for her outstanding contributions to American Indian higher education as its Tribal College and University Honoree of the Year. Dr. Lindquist, along with 34 American Indian scholarship recipients named as Students of the Year, were lauded at a reception hosted by the College Fund in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Since graduating from high school my educational development has focused on forestry and natural resources, and my career in various technical and professional positions has been intertwined with my educational focus. I approach my education and career as complementary activities, because my jobs are opportunities to learn and learning is my job.
At the center of the American Indian College Fund’s new PSA campaign rests a goal to change a staggering statistic: Only 14 percent of college graduates today are American Indian, less than half of that of their peers.
During this month dedicated to women, I want to acknowledge the importance of Native women who work in environmental spaces. It was primarily women who encouraged me to believe in my relationship with the earth and who acknowledge me as I am, which is to say a mixed-race queer.
The American Indian College Fund has created an online research repository to further understanding about Native higher education, tribal colleges and universities, and American Indian and Alaska Native students. The repository, located on the College Fund’s web site, provides researchers and the general public access to research the work that the College Fund and others do to support Native student success.
Conferences can be a great place for early childhood educators, families, teachers in training, and researchers working with indigenous young children. They are a place to gather ideas and build professional development for use in the classroom.
In 2016, I was invited to submit a chapter on the presidency of tribal colleges for a book on leadership at minority-serving institutions. I started the chapter with these words, Itancan, Bacheei-tche, Ogimaa: tribal words for those in leadership at tribal colleges because their leadership is rooted in their cultural knowledge and practices. This essay is derived from that chapter, “Tribal College and University Leaders: Warriors in Spirit and in Action
Bridget Skenadore, Project Officer of Native Arts and Culture at the American Indian College Fund, had the opportunity to participate in the Heard Museum’s Navajo rug weaving workshop in November 2017. In her job capacity she has had the opportunity to learn about Traditional Native Art forms from the upper-Midwest and with this opportunity from the Heard Museum she was able to learn about a Traditional Native Art form from her culture.
Preparing children for college starts at birth. But the American Indian College Fund realized that a one-size-fits-all approach to education does not work for Native children. Six years ago, the College Fund set out to strengthen systems of care and learning for Native children by expanding opportunities for their families to consider college as a pathway to thriving communities, starting from birth to career, by incorporating the local culture into education.
