Leon Staples (center) met with Rep. Dale Kildee (to his left) along with other representatives from the Leech Lake Reservation (left to right) Fawn Jackson, tribal council staff; Eli Hunt, tribal chairman, and John Day, dean of students.

“When I was a kid I was told I had a big mouth, but now after college I feel like I have something to say,” Leon Staples says. Staples (Anishinabe/Ojibway) has a lot to say when he is representing Leech Lake Tribal College (Cass Lake, Minn.). This past winter, Staples, president of the student senate, was chosen to represent Leech Lake Tribal College at the annual American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) meeting with Congress in Washington, D.C. Since then he has traveled to Washington twice to represent his tribe.

A father of four children ranging from 15 years to 3 months, Staples is a second year student, working toward a 2-year degree in psychology. The disabled veteran, in addition to serving as president of the student senate, is an alternate on the policy council of the Leech Lake Head Start Program on the Leech Lake Reservation.

Attending the AIHEC meeting was extremely important because he felt the college’s funding was at stake. Staples met with his congressmen to present his concerns and to talk about issues. Staples also met U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), whom he described as intelligent, passionate, and adamant about the subject of tribal issues and rights. Topics of discussion included the educational process, core funding, and how to best make the educational process “work equally for every person.”

Staples  says he “spoke from the heart, and their [the members of Congress] response was very positive. The more we discussed, the more information they wanted to know, especially when it came to how our people were being affected by limited access to a quality education and what kinds of effects these conditions were having on our people as a whole.”  He felt empowered working side by side with others from other tribal nations for the same cause. “People who are sincere about their intentions can accomplish whatever they collectively set their minds to,”  he says.

The highlight of the meeting for Staples was sharing in the elation of students and  staff from all the tribal colleges. He especially enjoyed the reception at the United States Capitol  Feb. 4 when honors songs were sung by Margaret Porter (Leech Lake student) and Lyn Blackburde (Turtle Mountain Community College student). They honored Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Rep. Joe Skeen (R-N.M.) for their efforts on behalf of the tribal colleges.  The songs moved Staples to tears. “As I listened to these songs, I knew in my heart that we had done a very important and honorable deed, not for ourselves, but for all those whom we respect and love and call brother and sister back home.”

During the trip, Staples met an elder who profoundly touched his life, giving him “a Grandfather’s perspective on life.” His newest mentor is Elden Lawrence, president of the Sisseton Wahpeton Community College in South Dakota. “We gave each other a gift that day we met. He gave me a new, more experienced outlook on life as I had never seen it before, and I gave him hope for tomorrow. With mentors of the caliber of Elden Lawrence helping me on the road of life, how could I not feel the power of the Creator in and around me, giving me a sense of duty to my brothers and sisters across this great nation that once was ours?. . . I will always have the memories of that trip safe and sound in the stories that I am saving for my children.”

Darlene Enno (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) is the writing instructor at Leech Lake Tribal College.