November 1 marks the start of National American Indian Heritage Month. All month long we will we celebrate the contributions of First Americans to our great nation and providing you with information on the traditions and cultures of the students we serve.
Norma Marshall of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma is a student adviser and instructor of Native American Studies at the College of the Muscogee Nation in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Marshall, who earned her baccalaureate in education with an emphasis in English and physical education from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma and a master of science in counseling and student personnel, with an emphasis in secondary education, from Oklahoma State University, said she never thought she would end up teaching in higher education.
The American Indian College Fund’s historic five-year $17.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., named Woksape Oyate, Lakota for “Wisdom of the People,” has concluded its final year. The program helped 32 tribal colleges build upon Native intellectual capital by tailoring programs to address individual school needs while strengthening the entire tribal college system.
The Wilke Family Foundation granted the American Indian College Fund $25,000 for scholarships for Native students who show academic achievement and involvement in their communities. Fifteen thousand dollars of the grant will fund unrestricted scholarships, and $10,000 will fund the Edwin Arwin Thornton Scholarship Endowment, established in 2009 in memory of Edwin Arwin Thornton. Liesl Wilke
Wieden+Kennedy founder and Advertising Hall of Fame inductee David Kennedy speaks about why his firm is committed to helping the American Indian College Fund and tribal colleges create greater awareness.
One experience I will never forget was the laying of the wreath ceremony at the Arlington Cemetery. As we strolled toward the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I felt sorrow and privilege all intertwined: sorrow for the men and women who lost their lives fighting for this great country and the privilege of being fortunate enough to have been present for this occasion.
Being in the same room as the nominees for President of the United States, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. Many of us have traveled to Washington, D.C. to visit Congress and federal agencies and never get to see the President. Many of us attend rallies for one of the candidates but rarely get to see the two nominees in the same room.
On Monday October 1st, my husband Alex Prue and I enjoyed a beautiful drive from the He Sapa (Black Hills) down through the Maka Sice (Badlands) across vast prairies and valleys of fall gold cottonwoods and red sumac into the homelands of the Oglala. We visited Oglala Lakota College’s (OLC) main campus at Kyle.
Bruce DeBoskey, a Colorado-based philanthropic adviser for the DeBoskey Group, noted in a recent article in The Denver Post that although the trend in philanthropy has been to make it become more strategic and effective. The Fund has rigorously employed systems to help our donors to transparently see how we invest their dollars in our communities, and how those dollars help our students, tribal colleges, and our Native communities.
Every year the American Indian College Fund’s Flame of Hope Gala affords our supporters a chance to meet our students and hear how you help make a difference in their lives. We’d like to introduce you to this year’s student speaker, Dwight Carlson (Navajo), an environmental science major, two-time U.S. Forest Service student intern, firefighter, All-American cross country runner, and bull rider. Dwight is an amazing young man whose potential might not have been met without the chance to earn a college education.
