Graduation ceremonies were held all over Indian country the last several weeks. So many of our scholarship recipients have worked countless hours to receive that elusive document among Native people, the one that testifies to the completion of their course of study. In addition to the stress brought on by their rigorous curriculum, many have endured natural disasters in their communities and family tragedies. Yet, they found a way to emerge from it and stay their academic course.
The American Indian College Fund received a $100,000 grant from the Highland, California-based San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians. The grant will be divided to support several major initiatives: $50,000 will support the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians Tribal College Scholarship Program; $25,000 will go towards the Sovereign Nations Scholarship Fund Endowment, which provides scholarships to Native American students in perpetuity; and $25,000 will support expenses for the American Indian College Fund’s annual fundraiser, the Flame of Hope Gala, on Thursday, October 20, in Denver, Colorado.
Anthony Walker (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) is on the receiving end of a sandbag pass from Kyle Leaf (Cheyenne River Tribe). Both are students in a Criminal Justice class from United Tribes Technical College that volunteered Thursday afternoon at a home north of Mandan along the river.
Fred C. Martinez, a young Navajo man, was brutally murdered after deciding he didn’t want to choose between being a boy or a girl. Fred self-identified as a gay male, but also expressed the feminine aspect of his personality in his dress and self-presentation. In Navajo culture, this concept is known as nádleehí.
On April 28th, many of the Fund’s long time donors, the Fund’s board of trustees, a contingent of Wieden + Kennedy employees, and prominent figures from Portland’s Native community came together to show David Kennedy their appreciation for his 20 years of rigorous support of the American Indian College Fund.
The American Indian College Fund honored 33 American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2010-11 Student of the Year reception at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Grant funds scholarships for American Indian college students committed to improving their communities’ health and well-being. For the fourth year in a row, United Health Foundation has granted the American Indian College Fund $50,000 to fund scholarships through the United Health Foundation Tribal Scholars Program.
The American Indian College Fund is proud to announce the establishment of The Estée Lauder Tribal Scholars Program with an inaugural gift of $11,000 for the 2011-12 academic year. This new program will provide ten $1,000 scholarships to American Indian students studying marketing, business, environmental science or a related field at the tribal colleges in Minnesota. The additional $1,000 will be utilized by the Fund to administer the program.
The Alumnae Association of St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing (New York City) established an endowment fund with the American Indian College Fund to provide annual scholarships each spring to Native nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing program at Salish Kootenai Tribal College in Pablo, Montana.
The American Indian College Fund (the Fund) and the American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) have joined forces to work together to increase career and educational opportunities for Native students studying business.
