Improving student success. Developing culturally relevant and integrated education. Sustaining, educating, strengthening communities and tribal nations. These are among the goals and top priorities of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and America’s 37 tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Today, these institutions are serving people who historically have been left behind with little or no access to higher education. They are preparing a new generation of workers, technicians, builders, leaders, teachers, medical professionals, scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, writers, artists, and cultural guardians who earn their degrees not so much for themselves, but rather for their communities. And that is what sets apart tribal colleges and universities from other institutions of higher learning.

The following alumni stories underscore how tribal college students overcome hurdles most Americans don’t face—or perhaps even know exist. They illuminate how culturally based curricula, small class sizes, and caring faculty combine into an alchemy for success. They illustrate how TCU students put in the time and effort to earn a higher education so they can return to their communities and give back, doing so in both small and large ways—whether it’s to help elders and the disabled, or to work as a police officer who understands and is a part of the community he or she serves, or to teach and educate the next generation, or to provide nurturing healthcare at a local clinic, or to research and test water quality on the reservation to mitigate potential contamination, or even to offer healthy meals prepared with traditional ingredients to a population in the middle of a food desert. As you will read in the following vignettes, these are just a few of the myriad ways tribal college alumni uplift and contribute to their communities, revitalizing and reinvigorating Native nations.

Krystal Wind, College of the Muscogee Nation, Class of 2010

By Leanna Tomah

Krystal Wind serves as the dean of student affairs at College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN). Wind was initially hired as the student success center coordinator in 2014. She graduated from the college in 2010 with an associate’s degree in tribal services. She went on to the university of Oklahoma to earn her BA in human relations and MA in administrative leadership.

For many years Wind, like others, believed that college was only for the wealthy and accordingly made no plans to attend a university. She was never provided information about college from her high school nor was she assisted in developing an education plan. However, Wind’s father attended college at CMN, graduated in the class of 2008, and convinced her to give it a try.

Attending CMN turned out to be one of the best decisions she made. Wind went from never planning to attend college to eventually becoming a tribal college graduate, which, in turn, motivated her to keep pursuing higher education. one of the benefits of attending a small tribal college is that the staff and instructors helped make the campus atmosphere feel like a tight-knit community. The instructors worked closely with students, which made it easy to build a rapport with them.

“The staff and faculty are your biggest cheerleaders, which creates the mindset that you can succeed in higher education and build confidence that might not have been instilled,” explains Wind. TCUs set students up for success, fostering the idea that they can succeed and providing them with leadership opportunities in student organizations such as Phi Theta Kappa, student government, sports, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and many more. “The support of staff, instructors, and the administration at CMN made me believe that I could be successful in continuing my education,” she says.

Many TCU alumni are giving back to their tribal communities by earning their education and serving in tribal and non-tribal sectors, which helps our communities in many ways, and Wind is no exception. “I always knew I wanted to come back and work with my tribe, which is my way of giving back to my tribal community,” she says.

Serving our people, directly and indirectly, amplifies student voices and benefits us as a whole. TCU alumni like Wind empower others to pursue education because they have gone through similar challenges and can share their experiences and offer support. When Wind was a student at College of the Muscogee Nation, she was highly motivated by the staff and faculty and was inspired by the CMN graduates before her. Wind is an example of how obtaining a higher education can be achieved and how it prepares future leaders.

Jovanna Archuleta, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Class of 2008

By Dina Horwedel

Jovanna Archuleta (Nambé Pueblo) is her state’s first assistant secretary for Native American Early Childhood Education and Care, serving in the newly created New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department. Archuleta ensures the state’s strong partnerships with tribal communities and works to strengthen government-to-government relationships on early childhood issues.

No stranger to issues impacting Native early childhood education, Archuleta was born, raised, and grew up grounded in her Native community, culture, and traditions in the northern New Mexico foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Surrounded by her family and many cousins, who were like the brothers and sisters she never had, Archuleta’s early life was centered on community—right down to her education at Pojoaque Valley High School.

After finishing her sophomore year, Archuleta wanted to experience life outside of New Mexico. She applied to the Cushing Academy, an international college preparatory boarding school in the rolling hills of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, near the New Hampshire border. There she made lifelong friends from around the world.

After graduation, Archuleta was accepted to a college in Massachusetts when she learned she was pregnant. She chose to attend Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) after consulting with an upward Bound coach. Armed with a Pell grant, a college workstudy position, food assistance, and an American Indian College fund scholarship, Archuleta moved to Albuquerque with her infant son, rented an apartment, and enrolled in SIPI’s business program.

It wasn’t easy uprooting her small family from her community where there were support systems in place to move a few hours south as a single mother and college student. But the SIPI experience, even with a young child, was “almost like going back to the community I was familiar with. It was affordable and small. The administration was full of welcoming faces. often, when I’d go to the offices there was a woman there. I still remember her, with a big smile on her face every time—even when I had a one-year-old child on my hip.”

Archuleta says the faculty and staff at SIPI understand Native students’ special challenges and needs. “for example, when I needed to leave to attend our community feast day or other events, that was not a problem, as long as I communicated with my instructors and had a plan to complete the work.”

After graduating from SIPI with an associate’s degree, Archuleta transferred to New Mexico Highlands university and earned a bachelor’s degree and then an MBA. She launched her career in her community as a receptionist for the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, which offers education, training, prevention, and health programs to northern New Mexico pueblos. She was promoted over the years to various positions and eventually served as the deputy director of the organization. That position gave her experience with government programs like Women-Infants-Children assistance, Head Start, behavioral health, and childcare.

Her philosophy on education is deeply rooted in her understanding of community. “We know everything starts at birth. Babies are born ready to learn in the environment they are born into, [which includes] family, leadership, cultural traditions, and language. Babies pay attention to everything we do. Early childhood impacts lifelong learning, how children view relationships as they grow older, and what they are accountable for,” she says.

Archuleta’s career, relationships, mentorships with tribal leaders, and experience as a mother positioned her for her current appointment by New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to the assistant secretary position upon the recommendation of tribal leaders.

When advising Native students about college and careers, Archuleta says, “The biggest thing students need is to have confidence to explore college opportunities. It’s hard to leave, even when it’s one hour away.” She notes that her own education opened doors to opportunities that paved the route to her position today.

“We can do it,” Archuleta says. “It’s a matter of understanding what we want, what our community wants, and what our children need. I think students need to understand that to succeed, they can go at a pace that works for them. Scholarships, including American Indian College fund scholarships, kept me afloat as a full-time student. Although not everyone can attend college full time, they can set up small incremental goals.”

Today, Archuleta envisions New Mexico’s Native communities’ needs in early education and oversees a program that works with a cohort of students studying early childhood education at SIPI. “I have come full circle,” she says.

Charlene Teters, Institute of American Indian Arts, Class of 1986

By Eric Davis

Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) alumna and recently retired academic dean Charlene Teters (Spokane) has been involved with IAIA since she attended as a student in 1984. She has been an integral part of the IAIA community for over 30 years as a faculty member, department chair, and—since 2014—an academic dean.

Teters first gained national prominence in the early 1990s as a graduate student at the university of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she led protests against the degrading American Indian caricatures used as sport teams’ mascots. As a result of her actions, she was the subject of the award-winning documentary In Whose Honor by Jay Rosenstein. In 1997, Peter Jennings, the ABC World News Tonight anchor, honored her as “Person of the Week.”

Teters received her Associate of fine Arts from IAIA in 1986, her Bachelor of fine Arts in painting from the College of Santa Fe in 1988, and a Master of fine Arts in painting in 1994 from the university of Illinois. She also holds an honorary Doctor of fine Arts from Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut.

Teters is a founding board member of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media (NCRSM), which was created to fight the powerful influence of major media outlets that choose to promote messages that contribute to the oppression of Native peoples. Holding demonstrations and marches outside numerous sports stadiums across America, the NCRSM has influenced the education efforts on racial stereotyping and made it a household discussion topic. The ultimate goal of the NCRSM is to stop the desecration of spiritual practices and the use of feathers, paints, dances, music, and instruments in an incorrect context. The NCRSM also wants to discontinue the use of Indigenous person mascots in schools because it is promoting the wrong ideals and images of Native peoples and portraying an inaccurate history. The recent actions to change the name and logo of the NFL’s Washington football Team and the MLB’s Cleveland baseball team can be traced to her protests. Teters is not the only activist who has been engaged in this struggle, but she is one of the most notable.

After establishing the Racial Justice office at the National Congress of American Indians, Teters returned to IAIA in 1992 as director of alumni relations and student retention and later was appointed as a full-time faculty member in the Studio Arts Department. In 2013, she was promoted to the rank of associate professor. She also served as the interim dean of the academic division during IAIA’s transition and move from the College of Santa fe campus to the school’s new campus.

In 2002, Teters received a New Mexico governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2017, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for the Arts. Recently, she was named as one of the “five Amazing Indigenous Women to Celebrate Instead of Christopher Columbus” by Bust.com, alongside such notable candidates as Anacaona (Taino), Sacagawea (Shoshone), Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation), and Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe).

Teters was honored by the New Mexico state senate during the fifty-fourth legislature as part of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day. She displayed her painting Lady in Red Shawl on February 1, 2019, in the New Mexico state capitol rotunda.

When asked about her continued efforts and activism, she says, “My art is a tool and like my frontline activism, it is to highlight how Native people are seen and treated in the 21st century. In these uncertain times, I am humbled and honored to be recognized for this work.”

Adrian John, College of the Muscogee Nation, Class of 2010

By Leeanna Tomah

As an institution of higher education, College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN) is dedicated to helping students achieve their academic and career goals by providing a quality learning environment sensitive to our rich tribal culture, language, and history.

Adrian John, a Chickasaw/Choctaw/Meskwaki Native, grew up in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, a small town with approximately 3,000 people. He is the special project coordinator for the Packed Promise Program at Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services. John obtained his Associate of Science in Native American studies from CMN. He then went on to earn a BS from East Central university, also in Native American studies.

John had some difficulty at the beginning of his educational journey. He was attempting to enroll in a larger university’s photography program and was unsuccessful. Then, an instructor enrolled him at CMN in the tribal services degree program. John admitted to being extremely shy when he first started college, never comfortable speaking in front of anyone. He described an incident where he and another student were to give a presentation in class, and the student didn’t show up. He had to find the courage to move forward alone. Since then, John has given presentations and spoken publicly on Chickasaw and Choctaw culture and the Johnson O’Malley (JOM) programs. He has conducted presentations in Washington State, New York City, as well as at national and state JOM conferences.

John moved onto campus and became more involved with CMN and its clubs like NASA, where he spoke and interacted more with other students, instructors, and staff. “[They] helped me break out of my shell and provided the family atmosphere,” he recalls. “I believe if I had started at a larger four-year institution, I would not have finished college.”

Before attending college, John asked himself what his main priorities were and what his tribe needed. He had worked in the education field for three years, where his job was to help Native students create an academic plan for after high school. He would mention tribal colleges to students, explaining that they have smaller classroom sizes and a culturally sensitive environment. He stressed that tribal colleges were a good place to start an educational career. Knowing firsthand how larger institutions treated students, John made it a priority that Native high school students were well-informed and had the confidence to continue their education. “The three main goals I have for my tribe and Native students are education, culture, and helping the community. If I can help a student get into college, I will help because if it were not for CMN, I would not have finished college.”

John has had a profound impact on his community. He shared several stories that demonstrate his commitment to education, culture, and community. on one occasion, he drove 30 minutes so that he could fix a student’s tie for an awards event. Another student was worried about wearing his ribbon vest to his high school graduation, and John told the student he would also attend the graduation in his ribbon shirt, accompanied by his fiancée who wore her ribbon skirt.

John continues what he started at CMN. “I gained more interest in my culture by learning the Mvskoke culture while I was at CMN. Now I am preserving my culture by being a stickball player and learning my language.” for Adrian John, education, culture, and community always come first.

Kristah Warrington, College of Menominee Nation, Class of 2019

Kristah Warrington, whose Menominee name is Netāpāniakiw (Loving-Caring Woman), is an enrolled member of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin who has lived, worked, and been educated on the Menominee Indian Reservation her entire life. She takes pride in her tribe, its land, and resources.

After graduating from high school, Warrington attended College of Menominee Nation (CMN). She struggled during her first and second semesters; however, the following year, her grades improved. In 2013, she completed an associate’s degree with an emphasis in business administration. four days after graduation, she gave birth to her first son. Warrington landed a job at the Menominee Casino Resort where she worked for over a year, but she discovered that it was not what she wanted to do. So, she returned to CMN, enrolling in the Bachelor of Business Administration program, eventually earning her degree in 2019.

Like so many tribal college students, Warrington’s goal is to work for and give back to her tribal community. Today, she works for the Menominee Tribal Clinic (MTC). “I have always wanted to work and help my tribe and community in any possible way,” she explains. “My commitment is to help continue to ensure the growth of MTC and the many services it provides to not only tribal members but also non-tribal members.”

Warrington believes in the mission of MTC and how it provides great services and grows its healthcare programs to its patients. She wants to use her personal experience and education to help the facility to grow and expand its services.

Warrington says that she cannot thank CMN enough for providing all the support and services that enabled her success. “They have not only provided an excellent learning experience, but I also gained professional learning experiences from the instructors,” she explains. “The atmosphere at CMN made it easy to bring your personal experiences into the classroom to learn,” she adds. As a tribal college alumna, Warrington says that she will always show pride, as it helped shape the person she is today, stating, “CMN has inspired me to spread encouragement and support to my peers and future generations in the Menominee community.”

Jessilyn Spears, Red Lake Nation College, Class of 2020

By Shelly Knight

Jessilyn Spears was born and raised in Red Lake, Minnesota, surrounded by her supportive family members and lifelong childhood friends. Most of her family attended Catholic school and did not have the opportunity to learn about their Anishinaabe heritage and culture until they enrolled at the local tribal college.

Spears, her parents, and grandparents, all attended Red Lake Nation College (RLNC), which allowed them to stay close to home, maintain their strong family bonds, and strengthen their connections with their community and culture.

one class project Spears fondly recalls involved tracing her ancestral heritage. She learned more about her great-grandmother and her family’s struggles to hold on to their Anishinaabe lifeways.

Despite the family’s challenges, her grandmother pursued college at RLNC during her adulthood, which set a remarkable example. “She showed me that it’s never too late to learn—especially your traditions,” Spears says.

Her family also set an example by advocating for themselves and others. She learned that seeking help from others is not easy because it can make one feel vulnerable. However, it is natural to need and seek help and guidance from one’s community. Spears’ ability to empathize with others makes her a good friend and community member. “I like to just be there for my friends whenever I can,” she notes.

Spears contributes to her community in many different ways. By following in her family’s footsteps in restoring their traditional knowledge and connections, she sets an example for her younger brother as well. She is excited to teach him their Anishinaabe traditions with help from the knowledge and connections she gained while attending RLNC. Thus, one of her goals is to pass on the knowledge she has learned, including her interest in STEM, to the next generations.

Another way she contributes to her college and community is through her work at the college library. Spears began as an intern at the Medweganoonind Library in the fall of 2020 and recently became a full-time staff member. Her strong interest in computer science and integrated media makes her an asset to the college and will provide her with hands-on work experience with library programming and makerspace technology. She will be instrumental in safely reopening the library to the public and assisting with projects in virtual and augmented reality and 2D and 3D design. In her new position, Spears will be on track to pursue her bachelor’s degree in computer science and eventually a master’s in video production.

Marie Wooten, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College, Class of 2015

By Jessica Wagner-Schultz

Marie Wooten, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, was recently hired as the director of the tribe’s new childcare center: Genawendaawasong, which serves the Lac Courte Oreilles community. The center is the culmination of much work and brings together stakeholders across the community. The Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College (LCOOC) supported the development of this center by offering recruitment efforts, communicating with college alumni regarding open positions, and creating a child development associate, specialized certificate to support the training needs of this and other childcare centers in the region. Genawendaawasong supports the needs of working families and serves children of students at LCOOC so that they can attend school.

Wooten’s academic journey began at LCOOC where she majored in human services, receiving her Associate of Arts degree in 2015. Attending college in her home community meant that Wooten was able to stay close to her children and work a full-time job while attending school. At LCOOC, Wooten was able to participate in cultural activities and classes, including tribal government, traditional bag weaving, Ojibwe culture, moccasin making, and more. Learning about tribal government guided her decision to pursue a minor in Native American studies at the university of Wisconsin-Superior.

“I always knew I was going to go to college because I love to learn and read everything,” Wooten explains. She was originally accepted into UW-Superior and planned to attend after high school, but she gave birth to her son the day after her high school graduation. She held off on college to raise her son, but a few years later she started her first degree at LCOOC. “It was really helpful to me that LCOOC had a partnership with some universities and all my credits were able to transfer to UW-Superior and fast track me into my junior year for my BA degree in social work,” shares Wooten.

Attending LCOOC prepared Wooten for transferring to UW-Superior. As a first-generation college graduate, attending a university was a major eye-opener for Wooten. She was able to gain experiences, travel, and meet new people. “You do not have to decide on a set degree when you start college. You can always switch paths as you learn and grow along the way,”

Wooten shares. She believes her community has a great college right at home, and great people to help along the way. “The opportunities are there. You have to find the ones that fit your needs and goals.”

Christopher B. Yazzie, Diné College, Class of 2012

By Torran Anderson

Christopher B. Yazzie is a member of the Navajo Nation. He is Tó’aheedlíinii (Water flows Together clan), born for Bííh Bitoodnii (Deer Spring clan). He was born and raised in the Navajo Nation and is from Tuba City and Dinebito Dam, Arizona. Yazzie is currently pursuing a PhD in chemical and environmental engineering at the university of Arizona (UA), but his higher education began at Diné College nearly a decade after graduating from Tuba City High School.

Yazzie decided to attend Diné College because of the strong emphasis on learning Navajo culture and language and the internship opportunities with the college’s Land grant office and the Diné Environmental Institute. Every Monday, he took a three-hour, 200-plus-mile Navajo Transit bus ride from Tuba City to the main Diné College campus in Tsaile. on Thursdays, he would take the long bus ride back to Tuba City to return to his family. on these long rides, he listened to music as he passed by homes with on-site water storage and unregulated water sources that are used by the more than 30,000 homes in the Navajo Nation without access to piped water.

He knew firsthand the effects of consuming unregulated ground water. At Diné College, he realized his career goal was to help solve tribal water issues, interning as a lab assistant and managing a greenhouse for the US Department of Energy. “It was great to learn science from home, starting with geology, biodiversity studies of plants and animals, and phytoremediation of contaminated sites due to the injustice of uranium mining issues,” Yazzie says.

In 2012, Yazzie earned an Associate of Science degree in environmental science from Diné College. Since he wanted to gain further skills to address tribal water challenges, he decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering at Northern Arizona university. Even while an undergraduate, He knew he needed to continue his education by pursuing graduate school. Yazzie emailed graduate schools across the Southwest, and Dr. Bob Arnold at the university of Arizona emailed him back immediately. The correspondence led to phone calls and, eventually, to Yazzie enrolling in the Master of Science in environmental engineering program. “Bob Arnold not only opened the door for me, [but] he held the door open and kept the line of communication,” Yazzie says. At UA, Yazzie’s research focused on desalination and remediation of water impacted by heavy metal contamination.

After receiving his master’s degree, Yazzie was recruited by Dr. Karletta Chief into the NSF Research Traineeship, Indigenous food, Energy, and Water Security and Sovereignty (Indige-FEWSS) program, which allowed him to pursue his PhD in environmental engineering. The Indige-FEWSS aims to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers to work with and within Indigenous communities to address food-energy-water challenges. The primary partner of Indige-FEWSS is his alma mater, Diné College. Yazzie has come full circle to now teach Diné College students about water filtration. Through his work with Indige-FEWSS, Yazzie is helping the team deploy several solar nanofiltration systems in the Navajo Nation. His role in the project is the examination of heavy metal rejection using different nanofiltration membranes. In 2019, Yazzie and Indige-FEWSS brought a solar nanofiltration unit to the Diné College Land grant office that will remain on-site as a teaching tool for future generations of water scientists.

Through the Indige-FEWSS internship requirement, Yazzie returned to Tuba City to work with Navarro Research and Engineering, Inc. at the Department of Energy-Legacy Management Rare Metals uranium tailings site near Tuba City. As a co-founder of a business start-up to develop home-scale, solar-powered desalination devices for commercialization, Yazzie has not forgotten how his educational journey began with those long bus rides from Tuba City to Diné College.

As a result, he finds ways to give back and currently serves as a mentor for the UA Bridge to STEAM program, which provides mentorship to tribal college students interested in graduate school. Yazzie explains, “Meeting students makes me realize that tribal college students are very capable of furthering their education into graduate school.” He shares his own journey from Diné College to UA with the tribal college students he mentors and teaches.

Outside of his busy academic schedule, Yazzie loves listening to music and going on walks with his wife and three children. After he receives his PhD in May 2022, he wants to work on tribal water issues by teaching environmental engineering and advocating for Native Americans to achieve higher education in engineering.

Haley Rains, Haskell Indian Nations University, Class of 2017

An enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Haley Rains was born and raised in Billings, Montana. She is currently working on her PhD in Native American studies at the university of California, Davis, where she also teaches undergraduates. But Rains’ academic journey began at Haskell Indian Nations university—a former Indian boarding school turned tribal college.

Rains’ experience at Haskell has influenced how she teaches and develops curricula for her classes. “It is essential that my classroom provides a safe space where students can consider critical cultural issues and reflect on how these discoveries may apply to their own experiences,” she explains. “As a graduate of a TCU and now an instructor who teaches predominately non-Native students, I am compelled to reflect on the epistemological frameworks that educators and students are often conditioned to accept, and I structure my student learning outcomes to contest such knowledge boundaries, which is why Native American studies courses are often eye-opening experiences for non-Native students.”

At Haskell, Rains learned to embrace—and celebrate—the Indigenous perspective. “As a Muscogee Creek woman, student, instructor, filmmaker, photographer, and aspiring professor, I strive to bring both the Native American perspective and the perspective of historically marginalized and excluded populations to both my classrooms and the larger UC Davis community,” she says.

Rains adds that her journey from being a TCU student to a PhD student and instructor at UC Davis has given her a unique perspective on higher education. She says that the way we construct and frame ideas and concepts in the classroom must be purposeful and inclusive. “We are educating college students, but we are also educating citizens who will go out into the world and interact with people from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds,” she says. “for that reason, students must develop and refine their critical thinking skills to make informed decisions and grasp and solve complex problems, especially as they pertain to people of color.”

Rains notes that her goal in every class is to facilitate this kind of learning—organically and systemically—and to ensure that students’ Native American studies courses emerge as a meaningful component of their learning experience at UC Davis. Rains concludes: “My experience at Haskell has uniquely prepared—and privileged—me for this tremendous responsibility.”

Lorencita Billiman, Navajo Technical University, Class of 2015

By Vangee NezChef Lorencita Billiman is a full-time culinary arts technical instructor at Navajo Technical university’s Bond Wilson Technical Center. The center offers applied technology certificate programs in culinary arts, welding, construction, and general education courses such as Navajo studies, mathematics, and English. Chef Billiman teaches the courses Professional Cooking I, ServSafe, food Safety and Sanitation, and Nutrition. She is an outstanding instructor, an excellent chef, and everyone enjoys the Indigenous cuisines she prepares.

Chef Lorencita Billiman says, “I’m of the Salt clan, ÁshįįÍí, born for the Towering House clan, Kinyaa’áanii, from Buell Park, Arizona.” In 1997, she started her culinary arts career at Crownpoint Institute of Technology, now Navajo Technical university (NTU). She graduated with a certificate in 1998 and that same year she entered the SkillsUSA culinary arts competition, taking third place.

Although she was successful, Billiman also encountered her share of challenges. The following year, she lost her mother to cancer. “She was my inspiration and urged me to continue my education,” says Billiman. In 2006, she became a mother to a baby girl. Living in the city and raising a child alone, she returned home to the Navajo Nation with her little girl. She tried working in various kitchens but elected to return to NTU after she learned they were offering advanced culinary courses certified by the American Culinary federation (ACF).

This opportunity prompted Billiman to push hard, and she made the dean’s list after not doing well in high school. Making the dean’s list motivated her for the next two years at NTU. She competed again in SkillsUSA and this time took the gold medal at the New Mexico State competition. She also went to nationals. Although she didn’t place, she considers it an important learning opportunity. “This experience also enhanced my confidence, and I was able to execute the challenging dishes during my practical exams,” she explains.

Billiman passed her exams and became a certified ACF Sous Chef while also earning an Associate of Applied Science degree in culinary arts in May 2015. Three years later, she was offered a teaching position for the Culinary Arts program at NTU. Billiman is proud to have accomplished her dream career in the culinary arts profession.

This past year was especially challenging because of the pandemic and the transition to online teaching. Also, many of Billiman’s students didn’t return. Still, as an NTU alumna, she enjoys teaching and sharing her knowledge. “I’m grateful for the students who challenge me and this experience has kept me young at heart,” she says. “I hope to see a student of mine graduate and become a chef.”

Lisa Bear, College of the Muscogee Nation, Class of 2011

By Leeanna TomahLisa Bear is the case manager for the College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN). She has been married to Patrick Bear for 24 years, has three children, and is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Bear has lived in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, for 25 years but is originally from Oklahoma City. She graduated from CMN in 2011 with her associate’s degree in tribal services. She went on to attend Northeastern State university, graduating with a BS in organizational leadership.

Bear started at CMN as a work-study student and was hired full-time in 2013 as an administrative assistant for the Student Success Center. In 2018, she was promoted to case manager under the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grant. As a case manager, she is now responsible for several grants that assist students with services they may need throughout the year. In pursuing a higher education, Bear was initially unaware that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation had a tribal college. But when she learned about CMN, she decided to enroll. At the time, CMN still shared classroom space with Oklahoma State university. Still, it was a unique experience. “Attending CMN, a tribal college, the atmosphere is unlike a larger non-Native institution. Being around tribal instructors and tribal culture helped me as a student and shaped my decision to work for the tribe,” Bear says. “I saw people who looked like me [and] my family, making it easier to communicate with instructors and other staff.”

Although she was a first-generation student, Bear graduated and now works at CMN. Serving the Muscogee Nation is her number one priority. “Being at CMN helped me realize that I wanted to help my people by providing them services or getting them the necessary information. In my current position, I do just that. I make sure that students get the information and services they need for success as college students.”

Bear observes that CMN is open to all. “Everyone has a role at CMN from top to bottom, and it really does take a community to be successful. I love helping CMN promote to our students, planning their next steps in their educational career.”

In a sense, Bear has come full circle, giving back to the institution that set her on her path. She became an advisor for the student senate and helps students find the information they need. “CMN supported me while taking charge of a committee as a new employee. I was bursting with the need to help, and CMN helped me fulfill that need.” Bear says she hopes to reach out to students to let them know about CMN’s various services and options, helping them to help themselves.

Nonabah B. Sam, Institute of American Indian Arts, Class of 2005

Nonabah B. Sam (Diné) is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and now curates the Ned Hatathli Museum at Diné College. Attending high school in a small town in northwestern New Mexico, Sam never imagined being where she is today. After graduating in 1996, She found herself floundering around, looking for some sort of direction. “I knew what I wanted to do but had no clue what it would take to get there,” she explains. “I was eager to figure out what my destiny was.”

Sam says she had always been made to feel like what she wanted to do in life did not matter, and like so many other students she dealt with bullying. But one day the high school guidance counselor, Mr. Frank Katnig, called Sam to his office. That was the day her life changed forever.

“He asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him that I wanted to go into museology,” recalls Sam. “He was shocked and said ‘okay mi’jita, let me see what I can do.’” Katnig picked up the phone and called Ramos Suina at IAIA. Katnig then pulled out an application packet, asked Sam to fill it out, and told her that he would personally send it off the next day. “I smiled, filled out the application and my FAFSA, and left the high school that day feeling a little overwhelmed. I was nervous because I had no self-confidence and did not think I could actually make it,” Sam says.

Two weeks later, Sam got an acceptance letter in the mail. “I think I beamed brighter than the sun that day,” she recalls. “I was so nervous when my family dropped me off in Santa Fe. My grandparents were proud and my aunt, who is very much my mother, told me I could do it and to just try my best. I remember my eyes filling up with tears, and a huge lump in [my] throat developed. I had never really been away from my family for an extended period of time. I cried a little that day.”

For Sam, her time at IAIA would fly by. She greatly enjoyed her classes and the museology curriculum. “I felt like my brain was on fire,” she says. At the time, IAIA was small, with only about 50 students, which lent itself to a family-like dynamic, with faculty and staff serving as aunties and uncles. “The atmosphere was encouraging and supportive, there was love and compassion, and we always gathered on Sundays to fill our bellies with a home-cooked meal,” she remembers.

Sam credits IAIA’s faculty for her success. “I had some really amazing professors,” she shares. “Every opportunity that has come my way has been because of the compassion of these individuals. They would carry my daughter Ymelda around while I worked on assignments.” Sam says that because of people like Charles “Chuck” Daily, Jessie Ryker, LeAnn Wilson, Carmen Henan, Tatiana Lomaheftewa-Singer, Dorothy Grandbois, Ramos Suina, Mae Austin, the late Darlene Herrera, and Della Warrior—along with her dad, Mark Swazo-Hinds, her aunt, Marita Hinds, and the rest of her family—she was able to succeed in college. Sam went on to serve as the student government president and gave a speech at the groundbreaking for IAIA’s current campus. She graduated with an Associate of Arts in museum studies and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. Sam initially took a position doing collections work at IAIA’s museum, but eventually enrolled in the institute’s bachelor’s program, graduating in 2005.

Sam stresses how much of a difference tribal colleges and universities make in the lives of Indigenous students. Due to her experience at IAIA, she returned home to the Navajo Nation and now works at Diné College, where she became the museum curator in 2012, just weeks after graduating with her Master of Arts degree. “TCUs give students opportunity to find passion, utilizing our own languages and cultures to tell our stories, to rewrite history, to start our journey into life, while holding on to our own traditions,” says Sam, adding, “Success is defined in what we describe as táá’whó’ajíítéégoo—if it is to be, it is up to me.”

Robin Powless, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College, Class of 2021

By Jessica Wagner-Schultz

Robin Powless, a member of the Bad River Lake Superior Chippewa, serves as a teacher in an Ojibwe immersion classroom, teaching children from birth to three years old at the Bad River Giniijaanisinaanig Head Start/Early Childhood Education Center. The program opened in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, but recently began welcoming children into the classroom.

“My father was a teacher of the Ojibwe language at Head Start and in the community for many years and I wanted to follow in his enormous footsteps,” says Powless. She began her college career at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College (LCOOC), seeking a liberal arts degree because she was unsure of what direction to go in at the time. During her first year of school, the Bad River Head Start was beginning its Ojibwe immersion program, and she decided that was where she wanted to be. “I changed my major to early childhood education,” Powless shares. “I needed to make a positive change in my life, and I had this vision to go to school and be able to teach.”

When Powless changed her major to early childhood education, she began her career at Bad River Head Start. LCOOC worked with her employer to implement an education plan so that she would have the best options for the education she needed in order to teach. The relationships that the tribal college develops with tribal entities and community businesses provides benefits beyond developing a qualified workforce. The college offers resources that will support the continued development of employees. At the same time, students graduate with a network and support system that they can lean on as they take on new challenges and explore new opportunities.

Powless explains, “I have had a good experience as a student at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College. Attending a tribal college has given me the ability to stay in touch with my own heritage and tribal identity. It has made it easier to be in an atmosphere that is familiar with people that are a part of the community.”

Cissimarie Juan, Tohono O’odham Community College, Class of 2018

By Martha S. Lee

“I’m not afraid to take a step backward,” says Cissimarie Juan, “because so often that difficult time is needed for me to move forward.” Cissimarie Juan (Tohono O’odham with matrilineal ties to the San Carlos Apache Tribe), who graduated in 2018 from Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) with an associate’s degree in liberal arts, describes several times when the step backwards actually led forward.

Juan grew up in a close-knit family connected to her culture and to the land in the beautiful tohono (desert) of the O’odham people. Her parents are Michael f. Juan and Kathleen Vance, and she has 10 siblings. She remembers celebrating her coming of age with her family. After fasting, she ran for a mile through the desert and returned, landing in her father’s arms. for a moment, her vision splintered into a shimmering static. When she opened her eyes, her sight felt different. Her father said, “You have the view of a woman now.”

After high school graduation, Juan entered a mainstream community college where she became distracted and lost her scholarship. She moved home and worked first with a nonprofit organization focused on food sovereignty and then with the Tohono O’odham Nation on youth engagement with cultural vitality. A year turned into two and then seven years. It was time for a step in reverse: She knew that she needed to give up her rewarding, full-time position to go to college.

Like many community college students, Juan majored in liberal arts so that she could explore her interests. Things came together during her sophomore year when she took the course Culture and History of Indigenous Peoples. Her American Indian studies instructor, dean of student services Naomi Tom, MS (Tohono O’odham), warned the students at the start of the course that they would encounter issues that would make them angry, history that would leave them heartbroken, and that they would have uncomfortable discussions in the course. All of this came to pass.

Yet Juan saw that she could make a difference in the trajectory of life in the Tohono O’odham Nation when equipped with more knowledge and experience. She became interested in law and policy, and after graduating from TOCC with her associate’s degree, she served as an intern in the Tohono O’odham Nation’s office of the Attorney general, which cemented her desire to pursue law.

Next, Juan enrolled at Arizona State university (ASU), where she graduated in May 2021 with a BA in American Indian studies. Recounting her college experiences, she said that once again having a setback led to progress in her life.

The first semester of college was difficult. Then age 30, she was older than most of her classmates. She missed volunteering with her O’odham community, and she felt out of place in the “Sun Devil” culture of ASU. Courses were hard, so she focused on studying. She felt overwhelmed and discouraged.

In her second semester, she decided to do something different: By taking the time to engage with others in activities, she raised her spirits and found that college life improved. “It was a major, major challenge,” she says about her first year, “but I had to remind myself of my purpose and, most importantly, that I was still on O’odham land. That in itself was medicine and gave me the strength I needed.”

The rest of college flew by. Juan volunteered and made friends. She was selected for a prestigious paid internship with the Arizona governor’s office of Tribal Relations. She felt she had come full circle when she accompanied governor’s office staff to visit the school district she had attended in the Tohono O’odham Nation during a site check-in for a state grant. Juan also thrived in her studies. She focused on policy, history, and the legal system in her American Indian studies major. for a stellar presentation on a restorative justice project for her home community, she won a six-week LSAT preparation course, which fit in well with her plans to attend law school.

“My focus as an undergraduate has been thinking about home and also our judicial system and what it would look like to have restorative justice,” Juan says. She has ideas about how cultural practices such as singing, planting, nurturing, and creating art can enhance the lives of those entangled in the criminal justice system. After law school, Juan hopes she can return home to the Tohono O’odham Nation to contribute to the legal system there.

Melanie Nadeau, Turtle Mountain Community College, Class of 1994

Melanie Nadeau, PhD, also known as Dr. Mel, is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in Belcourt, North Dakota. She graduated from Turtle Mountain Community High School and then Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) with Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of Applied Science degrees. In her free time, she enjoys attending cultural events and hosting cookouts with her family.

upon graduating from TMCC, Nadeau went on to receive her undergraduate degree in psychology from the university of North Dakota. She served as a research technician on a genetics and preeclampsia study for four and a half years prior to pursuing her graduate education. Her first peer-reviewed publication in 2010 focused on recruiting American Indian women into an epidemiologic study, which stemmed from her work at TMCC. She went on to complete both her Master of Public Health degree in community health education with a concentration in health disparities and her PhD in social/behavioral epidemiology at the university of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Nadeau is a community-engaged scholar who has worked for 18 years on various research projects within the American Indian community. Throughout her career, she has worked with tribal communities, conducting community-based participatory research, Indigenous evaluation, and case-control studies. As a previous operational director of the American Indian Public Health Resource Center, housed at North Dakota State university, Nadeau led a team that successfully engaged a multitude of tribal health stakeholders from across the nation using a four-pronged approach to public health, addressing issues through a public health policy, research, education, and services lens. Most notably, she led the team’s Indigenous evaluation projects that were conducted with tribes across Minnesota as part of the Minnesota Department of Health Tribal Statewide Health Improvement Plan projects.

Nadeau’s research direction took form while she was working on her dissertation, which was the first case-control study to explore breast cancer risk factors among American Indian women. Her current research focuses on working with her tribe to develop and administer a community-informed survey that will assess youth protective factors and risk factors that lead to cancer over the lifespan.

Today, Nadeau serves as assistant director/assistant professor for the public health program, which is housed in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the university of North Dakota. She also serves on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians research review board, the American Public Health Association American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian board and as chair of the North Dakota Public Health Association, American Indian section. Nadeau credits TMCC as being foundational to where she is today.

Paulette Blanchard, Haskell Indian Nations University, Class of 2012

Growing up, Paulette Blanchard believed college was unattainable. “I grew up in a mixed-race family moving between Oklahoma and California,” she says. “Moving was normal and schools and cities were always changing for us.” She struggled in school and even dropped out of high school because challenges at home were so difficult. “I thought it was my only choice,” she recalls. “With all of these and other complications in my life, college was never a dream I dared to consider.”

But Blanchard later decided that she wanted a better job and a better life. She eventually enrolled in a community college in Oklahoma. Although she completed an associate’s degree, she was still unsure about the direction she wanted to take—until she discovered Haskell Indian Nations university.

“Haskell was the best experience in my life,” Blanchard states, adding that the students she made friends with “were the most genuine people who welcomed me and helped guide me. I learned that many of the students at Haskell were also older, struggling with their own challenges, and they too were passionate about their culture, homelands, and peoples. I had a family in Haskell, and a home.”

Blanchard credits Haskell professor Daniel Wildcat for much of her success, noting that he embodied hope and promise. She says that any student willing to do the work and who showed promise would be afforded opportunities. Blanchard says that she became interested in Dr. Wildcat’s work on the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working group, which led her to investigate how climate impacted her Absentee Shawnee tribe and other Oklahoma tribes. She enrolled in a summer internship with the Haskell Environmental Research Studies program and made the project that came from the internship her capstone.

In between trips with Wildcat’s working group and learning what other tribes were doing about climate in their homelands, Blanchard took a seat on the AIHEC Student Congress and lobbied for TCUs in Washington, DC, during AIHEC’s legislative summit. There she met scientists who introduced her to the great possibilities and the needs of Native peoples and their lands. “I also learned about inequity and injustice imposed historically and currently on Indigenous peoples,” she says, adding, “I learned how voiceless and invisible Natives were in the climate discussions from science disciplines and policies affecting us all.”

Leveraging these and other opportunities, Blanchard evolved into an activist and advocate. She became instrumental in developing and facilitating the Oklahoma Intertribal Meeting on Climate Variability and Change, which led to a technical report that was cited in the National Climate Assessment. Blanchard helped encourage 22 of the 39 tribes in Oklahoma to discuss their observations and experiences with weather and climate. “We had a voice in Oklahoma in our climate experiences for the first time,” she says. “My voice had a value and my work mattered.”

For Blanchard, Haskell made all the difference. She credits the university as being a safe place to learn and ground herself in her Indigeneity while learning from Native scholars about place, knowledge, and the responsibility of caring for all our relations. “I learned the confidence to stand up, speak out, and effect change. Haskell afforded me opportunities as a Native to work in science that uniquely prepared me by giving me a foundation to work from as a strong, Absentee Shawnee, two-spirit researcher.”

Since graduating in 2012, Blanchard has gone on to take part in the graduate Climate Conference and the Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Science steering committee. She is now completing her PhD at the university of Kansas, grounding her work in the lessons, values, and mentoring she received from Haskell.

Blanchard believes that tribal colleges and universities provide a space for Native students where they can build on the knowledge and wisdom of their ancestors. “We decide for ourselves what kind of relative we want to be remembered as,” Blanchard states. “I am honored to be a Haskell graduate…I know who I am, and what I am capable of. I am humbled to have learned from the most amazing Native scholars in the world because of Haskell. I am also very proud knowing my great grandmother also went to Haskell. It is a family tradition, and I am proud of my Haskell family and experience. onward Haskell!”

Leland Bear, College of the Muscogee Nation, Class of 2007

By Leeanna Tomah

Leland Bear is captain of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police North Division Patrol and an alumnus of College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN). Captain Bear and his team cover five of the 11 counties and two partial counties that make up the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation. Coming from the small town of Dustin, Oklahoma, with a population of approximately 500, Bear attended graham-Dustin High School, where he was one of 12 graduates. Bear was in the second graduating class of CMN and is a first-generation college graduate. “I am in a leadership role, but so are the others who graduated with me. The students I graduated with also had an associate’s degree in police science (now criminal justice) and are doing well in leadership roles at the Muscogee (Creek) Nation or entities such as BIA.”

At TCUs, there is more focus on tribal culture, tradition, and language than at mainstream institutions. Moreover, there is a better connection between students and teachers. CMN provided Bear and continues to provide other Native students a more comfortable learning environment than a larger institution.

Attending CMN also helped Bear prepare for his career and how to better interact with citizens and the public at large. Classes like speech and human relations allow students to refine and develop the skills needed for future employment. Bear indicated before his educational journey that he was disorganized with his thoughts and speech and that he had “no filter.” His instructors and peers taught him to take a more methodical approach to problem solving. “It was invaluable for the position I am in now as our caseload has increased 10 times than usual since the McGirt ruling,” he says, referencing the Supreme Court case that recognized the jurisdiction and lands of tribes like the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

“I pass on what I know about CMN and my job as captain to tribal community members and others in the community,” says Bear. Since the McGirt ruling, meeting with Muscogee (Creek) communities has been relegated to the captains like Bear, and it has become more important.

Bear has also served as an adjunct instructor at CMN, teaching criminal justice classes. “When I taught, I used my personal experience to provide a better understanding of the curriculum for my students,” he explains.

CMN permits students like Bear to start their educational journeys. Students can obtain an associate’s degree and move into the workforce or further their academic careers at four-year universities. Although many students don’t have a plan or even consider college after high school, Bear encourages them to know they have options at TCUs and to make an education plan. “I didn’t think I had a lot of opportunities. All I wanted to do is make money and work. I did that until after 30 years-old when I started taking classes.”

Terrance Manuelito Sr., Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College, Class of 2016

By Jessica Wagner-Schultz

Terrance Manuelito, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, serves as his tribe’s aging and disability services director as well as the tribal veterans service officer. Manuelito is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and father of four.

In his role at the Aging and Disability Services Center, Manuelito has worked with Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College (LCOOC) to create a bridge of service between students and elders that are served through the program. In the spring of 2021, LCOOC launched an alternative spring break volunteer program. This year’s event was a virtual letter writing campaign to local elders that have been delivered through an elders meal program.

Manuelito was encouraged to pursue a degree at LCOOC by his previous director who envisioned the educational benefits and possibilities that he would have while he worked as the tribe’s elder and disability benefits coordinator.

Manuelito began his educational journey at LCOOC in 2004, graduating with an associate’s degree in small business management in 2007, and returning for his associate’s degree in human services. “I enjoyed the time spent learning on the job and was able to apply a lot of my knowledge and experiences to the classes I took while there, and it helped during the transition,” says Manuelito. He went on to continue his educational journey at the university of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, completing a Bachelor of Science in human services leadership in 2020.

Manuelito shares a stanza from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling that his grandma Betty gave to him when he graduated high school, and which guides him to this day:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!