Things are moving fast at the Northwest Indian College and the Lummi community. For the last three and a half years of collaboration and planning on behalf of the Wakanyeja “Sacred Little Ones” Early Childhood Education Initiative by the American Indian College Fund, the leadership and partnerships have created many exciting new opportunities for families and children in the Lummi community.
When many American Indian students study at mainstream institutions, they experience culture shock. For many, it is the first time away from a close-knit community. For others, it is their first experience away from the reservation. Transitioning to a life on a large campus can feel alienating and unwelcoming. Iva, a member of the Blackfeet nation who had lived in the reservation her whole life and a graduate of Blackfeet Community College in Montana
went to work for the Blackfeet Tribe fresh out of high school. I planned to work for just a year, and then go to college. That year turned into 22 years. I went to college for the first time in my life just short of my 44th birthday. Had it not been for the Blackfeet Community College, I might not have ever gone to college. True, I had to start commuting 50 miles round trip again, but the upside was that my husband agreed to join me. He hadn’t ever gone to college either.
In 1961, during his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy delivered the memorable line in which he emphasized, “Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.” While he meant to apply this statement to the United States and the world at large, I feel that it also applies to Indian Country and my personal philosophy of “Think Indian.”
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.
Congratulations to Team SkyWalkers, Northwest Indian College’s (NWIC) team that will be part of this year’s NASA Student Launch Initiative April 21 near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NWIC’s team was one of 42 nationwide selected to participate in the program this year. Team SkyWalkers is comprised of more than 12 students from five tribes ranging from age 19 to 58 and advised by NWIC faculty member Gary Brandt, who has taught the sciences, electronics, and robotics at NWIC since 1989.
