Short Answer Questions

Tips for The Full Circle and TCU Scholarship applications

The Full Circle and TCU Scholarship applications have an essay style format with three short-answer questions.

These sections are your chance to share your story and give readers an opportunity to see how a scholarship would help you achieve your stated educational and professional goals and require you to discuss three elements: an obstacle that you have overcome in order to get to where you are now; your educational goals and how this scholarship will help you achieve those; and how your education will help your Native community.

We recommend that you type out your responses to the short-answer question in a Word document (like this template) to ensure safe keeping if you need to abandon the application before submission.

To enhance this section, start by creating an outline of your thoughts and initial answers to each question. The outline does not need to look perfect, but it will allow you to start thinking about and organizing these questions and how they relate to each other.

Here are two sample outlines to help get you started:

  • A Visual Outline for those who prefer to see the outline as part of the big picture.
  • A Textual Outline for those who prefer a more linear approach.
  • Whichever outline you choose, remember that they are not meant to be exhaustive. They are designed to help you organize your thoughts and begin planning for writing your final responses.
  • There is no right or wrong answer for these questions, but it is very important that you provide a thorough response to each short-answer question.

As always, don’t forget to check your grammar and spelling!

NOTE: The short-answer section is ONLY available in the application, not in the profile. This means you must have all of your application ready (INCLUDING YOUR TRANSCRIPT READY TO UPLOAD) when you answer these questions; otherwise your answers will not be saved.

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Living the Earth Lodge Village Life

By Dr. Constance King Gottschall, Member of the Hidatsa Flint Knife Clan, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (NHSC) Education Department Chair, and IECE Grant PI

“It takes an earth lodge village,” and we are so thankful for the American Indian College Fund’s presence in ours! The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) earth lodge village welcomed me more than 14 years ago, first as a guest and then as family. In addition to becoming an adopted member of the Hidatsa Knife Clan, I am wife to an MHA tribal member, mom to one beautiful daughter and her husband, grandma to twin toddler girls and to all who will have me, and sister of too many to name.

In the summer of 2024, the College Fund awarded Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College’s (NHSC) Early Childhood Program the Ihduwiyaypi: Advancing Indigenous Early Childhood Education grant. This wonderful funding opportunity is strengthening our programming, growing our partnerships, enhancing learning for our children from birth through age eight, and promoting the Community of Practice (CoP). This work brings together six geographically separate community segments across the expansive homelands of the MHA Nation!

The traditional homes of the MHA Nation were lodges made of willow branch frames covered in earth and grass with central fire pits symbolizing unity. A remnant of these physical earth lodges is found in sacred village sites throughout the MHA homelands. Beyond the physical earth lodge villages exists deeper and more abstract ways of life that have persisted for centuries.

Our college’s earth lodge model unifies our educational community and branches out to four load-bearing domains representing people, culture, spirituality, and future. The surrounding values include teachings, leadership, community, determination, growth, respect, land, language, balance, humility, and livelihood.

Our grant project, entitled “Those Who Teach the Early Years” (O gii waagabuus in Mandan; Agumaagigu’ukike in Hidatsa; and Niiniitahnaa’iitawihu in Arikara) focuses on three primary goals:

  • Embed MHA culture, language, and spirituality into our Early Childhood curriculum
  • Build engaging relationships between NHSC and the communities we serve
  • Enhance employee recruitment, onboarding, retention, and career development through satisfaction, personal growth, and ongoing training.

We hosted a two-day early learning conference focused on the college’s earth lodge model, trauma-informed healing, knowledge from elders who were panelists, and community resources. A stylized replica of an earth lodge was created on the gymnasium floor made of sticks, rocks, and sacred plants. A ceremony enlisted the help of leaders who picked up the rock with the value that spoke to them. This strong team planned a professional development day for New Town Schools consisting of post-flood resiliency, “We are who we are first” (being yourself and not trying to be someone else), and sustainability.

Our “Visioning with Abundance” gathering celebrated the strengths of the MHA Nation through the beats and songs of a tribal drum group, the accounts of abundance through sustainability in action, and land-based connections.

Several events are being hosted this spring as part of the project and in honor of “The Week of the Young Child,” to include:

  • A book club featuring There, There by Tommy Orange
  • A Lunch & Learn, “Reading Resources for Families: Supporting Literacy — Birth through Adult”
  • “Reading Across MHA Nation Every Day” challenge that asks adults to read with their children

We are also featuring MHA authors and elders as speakers at each of five “Cultural Book-Kit” sessions, in which participants create and add meaningful art and items to folded pizza boxes to represent featured children’s books. In addition, an early childhood educator’s workshop will be led by an MHA member who teaches preschool-aged children.

With leadership and support, strong threads blanket our little ones in the MHA way of life. Courses, culture, connections, and creative internships are nurturing our CoP. We are looking forward to what year three of our grant will bring to “Those Who Teach the Early Years” in our earth lodge village way of life!

MHA Author, Rae Ann Bird Bear-Williams shared one of her books, Little Bear's Family (Naxbiccí-Náagahge´he ida Wáhcaa´sh) with the Northeast Segment community during our first Cultural Book-Kit, where children and their families put together items and decorated pizza boxes to retell stories. 
Early Childhood Education Interns, Enma Felicano (left) and Gissel Summers (right) help facilitate the "make it, take it" Cultural Book-Kit session in Parshall, ND. 
Braided sweetgrass surrounds a pair of eagles in their nest with four feathers, one representing each of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) and the additional feather, guests to MHA Nation, sitting atop an earth lodge and encircled by “Community of Learning” and “Circle of Practice”, while the MHA Nation Earth Lodge Village rests below.
Participants danced in ceremony to acknowledge the responsibility of domain and value in its relationship to early learning.
Stakeholders stepped up and accepted responsibility for early learning, picking up sticks and rocks representing the earth lodge model domains and values.
The map shows the expansiveness of five segments of the MHA Nation Homelands that include Mandaree (Western Segment), New Town (Northern Segment), Lucky Mound/Parshall (Northeastern Segment), White Shield (Eastern Segment), and Twin Buttes (Southern Segment).
The earth lodge model was created years ago by a select group of NHSC Faculty and Staff.
Lee Ann Nation's three children and their pizza box Cultural Book-Kits, decorated to represent the book Little Bear's Family by Rae Ann Bird Bear-Williams.
Two of our Early Childhood Interns, Esther Hall (left) and Lizbeth Guzman (right), spoke about their internship experiences.
Lee Anna Nation reads with her three children during the Mandaree Cultural Book-Kit session.
MHA Elder Lovina Fox shared excerpts of the book that she is writing that includes many, many elder interviews with West Segment families in Mandaree, North Dakota at our second Cultural Book-Kit session.

A Reflection from a Student Leader

By Audrey Saganna Jr., Ilisagvik College Student
2026 American Indian College Fund Student of the Year Recipient

AIHEC 2026 March 15, 2026 Student of the Year; Audrey Saganna Jr.

Being named Student of the Year is something I’m incredibly grateful for, but to me it represents much more than just an award. At Ilisagvik College (IC), I’ve grown as both a student and a leader and get to express my passion by giving back to my community.

Through my involvement in the Student Government Association (SGA), my main concentration is to create purposeful changes that directly uplift our students here at IC. I’m a big advocate of mental health and wellness, as I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to continue one’s education when placed in a tough spot. Right now, I’m working on establishing a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) chapter on campus, so students have access to more support and resources. Mental health issues affect so many people, and I want to create spaces where students feel safe, supported, and not alone.

Through cultural events and fundraisers, I push to make changes that matter to students. I’ve helped organize Native American Heritage month events that celebrate our culture and history. We’ve created cultural spirit weeks to encourage students to show pride in their cultures alongside Niqipiaq Day, where we bring people together through the celebration of traditional foods. Everyone provides foods like bowhead whale, caribou, homemade bread, berries, etc, that we prepare a couple hours before enjoying it amongst each other. It’s one way we keep our traditions strong and also provide for the students who want to eat or experience traditional foods while being away from home.

Niqipiaq Day February 26, 2026: dorm students and staff (left to right): John Duterte, Chloe Araya, Allan Punla, Audrey Saganna Jr.

Niqipiaq Day February 26, 2026: dorm students and staff (left to right): John Duterte, Chloe Araya, Allan Punla, Audrey Saganna Jr.

IC is special because it’s a place where Native Alaskans reconnect and learn about who we are while pursuing our education. It is a space where we can be unapologetically Inupiaq and provides an environment that centers culture and community and supports students in building their sense of identity and purpose. The support I’ve received from the College Fund has helped motivate me to continue my educational journey and stay focused on my goals. I’m planning to use my degree in wildlife biology and conservation to take care of the land and animals because it is a big part of who we are as Inupiat people and I want to be a part of preserving our home and culture for future generations. I’m very proud of where I come from and the work I’m doing, and I’m excited to keep building on it in the future.

What Are Interagency Agreements and Why Do They Matter for Tribal Colleges and Universities?

Ahniwake Rose, President and CEO, American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Ahniwake Rose, President and CEO, American Indian Higher Education Consortium

By Ahniwake Rose, President and CEO, American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Recently, federal agencies have begun implementing what are known as interagency agreements (IAAs) between the U.S. Departments of Education, Interior, and Labor. These agreements are designed to shift how certain education and workforce programs that serve American Indian and Alaska Native students are administered across federal agencies.

The goal of these IAAs sounds straightforward: improve coordination, reduce unnecessary reporting, and make services easier for Native students and Tribal Nations. Under these agreements, one agency may take on administrative responsibility for programs historically managed by another, using a framework permitted under federal law.

But for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), the implications are more complicated.

TCUs are not just institutions of higher education. They are chartered by Tribal Nations and exist as expressions of sovereignty, serving students, families, and communities in some of the most rural and underserved regions of the country. TCUs also play a crucial role in the federal government’s trust and treaty obligation, supporting the education of Native people.

When authority shifts between agencies without clear accountability, it can create uncertainty around funding, oversight, and program continuity. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), which represents 35 accredited TCUs, has been active in addressing these concerns regarding how IAAs are put into practice. AIHEC has emphasized the need for clear accountability across agencies, as well as structured coordination to ensure TCUs are not left negotiating through disconnected or duplicative federal systems.

Consultation must be central to this process. AIHEC has submitted formal letters and comments outlining our concerns about both the process and the details of these agreements to the Departments of Education, Interior, and Labor. We have stressed the importance of meaningful, government-to-government consultation to occur early and throughout implementation and not after key decisions have already been made.

For TCUs and the students they serve, these policy changes under the IAAs are not abstract. They can directly influence how financial aid is provided, how workforce programs get approved, and how quickly TCUs can meet the needs of their communities. Stability matters— especially for students juggling school, family responsibilities, and work in communities where TCUs are often the only accessible higher education option.

Better coordination among federal agencies could benefit everyone. Done well, it could reduce administrative burden and improve access to services. But this coordination must be done with clarity, accountability, and, most importantly, in full partnership with Tribal Nations and the institutions that serve them.

Learn more about Ahniwake Rose.