Tribal College Graduation Ceremonies Held at Seven Clans

Red Lake Nation College (RLNC) held a Special Recognition Ceremony, Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 11 a.m., at Seven Clans Casino Event Center, Red Lake, Minnesota.

Arriving at Seven Clans, the first thing one noticed was the caps and gowns dotting the lobby. Programs full of information were handed out upon arrival. Inside the program were the College Vision and Mission Statements. There was also a list of the he Board of Regents who include; Lorena Cook Chair, Vice-Chair Charlys May, Secretary Rachele Donnell, and members William May, Sr., Delwyn Holthusen, Jr., Rob Blue, Donovan English, and Dell Johnson.

Also inside were the names of the administration and faculty. The highlight of course was photos of the RLNC 2015 graduates. They included; Brett Brun, Athena Bugg, FaLeisha Desjarlait-Pemberton, Jennifer Hart, Krystal Jourdain, Betty Kimbrell, Gordeaux LaFleur, Leighshell Lussier, Willow McDaniel, Pamela Needham, LeAnn Pearson, Misty Roy, Jennifer Schoenborn, Marloree Strong, Whitney Spears, Kevin Soukup, Amanda Walton, and Rose Marweg who received her diploma posthumously, her family accepting her diploma.

At 11:00 a.m., Mistress of Ceremonies, Lorena Cook, Chair RLNC Board of Regents, welcomed friends and relatives of the graduates.

Then came the Grand March with the Red Lake Color Guard leading. They were followed by Red Lake Royalty, Graduates, Donald Day Leech Lake Tribal President, Dan King RLNC President, RLNC Board of Regents, and RLNC staff and faculty who all came in dancing to the drum of the P-Town Boyz.

The Opening Prayer was by College Spiritual Advisor Eugene Stillday who translated his words into English after offering the invocation first in Ojibwemowin.

After introducing special visitors and guests, Cook introduced Darrell G. Seki, Sr., Chairman Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians who offered a congratulatory. First speaking in Ojibwemowin, as is his manner, Seki introduced himself, the name of his clan and his home. He then thanked the drum and Stillday and the commencement's special guest.

Switching to his second language English, Seki advised the graduates. "Do not forget your family, your culture, and your home," he said. "There's bad medicine out there. Beware of alcohol, heroin, meth, and prescription drugs. Say miigwech to your family, it's got to come from your heart, remember who you are."

Words from President King

RLNC President King then took the stage and reminded the graduates of the words of Larry Stillday (who had left this world one year ago to the day) about how "our ancestors are watching and are taking pride in your accomplishments." King also honored student Rose Marweg who recently passed.

"Our mission is to provide excellence in higher education grounded in the language and culture of the Red Lake nation," said King, "without RLNC, 95% of our students would not be in college."

"Our motto is 'A Great Place to Start', we are a family college that offers one on one help, free tutoring and counseling, financial aid help, wireless HD courses, and at only $154 a credit...credits that transfer to other colleges through the LLTC agreement." King said.

After giving an update on the new campus, King said that this is the largest class in RLNC history with 18 grads noting that several are going on to a 4-year college. "You're on the right track, you did the hardest part, you had the courage to start college, you faced your fears and you won," said King. "College is like a football game, 4 years = 4 quarters, it's halftime and you're leading, don't quit now, keep going."

King then thanked the parents, spouses and families of graduates, the RLNC board of regents, P-Town Boyz, royalty, color guard, banquet crew, DJ Dorothy Cobenaise, and videographer Alex King many of whom are RLNC grads.

Special Recognitions

Mandy Schram, VP of Academic Affairs RLNC, was next up and presented the Paul Bunyan Communications Annual Scholarship Award to Betty Kimbrall and Jennifer Schoenborn. Betty and Jennifer were also recognized as "students of the year," and Valedictorian and Salutatorian respectively.

Eugene "Bugger" McArthur, RLNC Director of Development, was next up to present the "student of the year award" to Kimbrall and Schoenborn. "Seven years ago we had 40 students," said McArthur, "soon we had 80, then 120, and we were nearing capacity at the college and even had to turn students away. That wasn't good, so the idea came to build a new college. The tribal council was approached, the council suggested a government center be part of the project, funds were found, and the rest is history."

"Elders have the vision, the young have the dreams." ~Billy Mills

Commencement Address by Billy Mills, US Gold Medal Olympic Champion, 10,000-meter race, 1964

Mills was introduced with a black and white video of the last few minutes of that year's 10,000 meter race at the 1964 Olympic Games in Japan, which made Billy Mills, (Oglala-Lakota) of Pine Ridge, S.D., famous for becoming the first (and as of 2012, the only) American athlete to ever win an Olympic gold medal for the 10,000 meters footrace.

Mills is currently the national spokesman for "Running Strong for American Indian Youth" whose mission is to help Indian people meet their immediate survival needs – food, water, and shelter – while implementing and supporting programs designed to create opportunities for self-sufficiency and self-esteem. The program began in 1986 as a project of Christian Relief Services Charities. Mills is happily married to his wife of 48 years, Pat Mills.

Mills Background

Mills was born and raised on the impoverished Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was orphaned when he was 12 and raised by his grandmother. He took up running while attending the Haskell Institute, now known as Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.

He attended the University of Kansas on an athletic scholarship. He was named a NCAA All-America cross-country runner three times, and in 1960 he won the individual title in the Big Eight cross-country championship. The Kansas track team won the 1959 and 1960 outdoor national championships while Mills was on the team.

After graduating with a degree in Physical Education, Mills entered the United States Marine Corps. He was a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserves when he competed in the 1964 Olympics.

"Every passion has its destiny"

Your life is a gift from the Creator," Mills told the graduates. "Your gift back to the Creator is what you do with your life. I was constantly told and challenged to live my life as a warrior. As a warrior, you assume responsibility for yourself. The warrior humbles himself. And the warrior learns the power of giving."

"I would say that it's the journey that's important, not the destination," said Mills. "The daily decisions you make in life, not the talent you possess, are what choreograph your destiny. Ultimately, it's the pursuit of excellence that takes you to victory. When you find that passion, it allows you to focus. In my Native American world when you are focused, then the body, the mind, and the spirit all work as one to motivate you to discover and achieve your dream."

"What I took from the Olympic Games was not winning an Olympic gold medal but an understanding of global unity through dignity of character and pride of global diversity. And global unity through global diversity is also the future of mankind."

"I think what it taught me was that you have to find a passion in life. My Dad always told me in simple ways, "Follow your dreams. Every dream has a passion. Every passion has its destiny," he said.

"People make a big mistake when they say, 'I need to be motivated.' You motivate yourself," said Mills. "I might inspire somebody, but that person has to be motivated within themselves first. Look inside yourself, believe in yourself, put in the hard work, and your dreams will unfold."

"I have many young mentors. In the Native American culture, an elder traditionally is a status you've achieved based upon how you've lived your life. I've tried to find elders in the traditional sense but from all walks of life. I look for people I can take wisdom from, people of all ages," observed Mills.

"Every morning you are handed twenty-four golden hours," Mills said. "They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with your priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted, you cannot get it back."

The Run

On the starting line of the 10,000m final at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant Billy Mills was just another runner. Neither the press nor his fellow competitors expected him to do anything other than run a decent race and finish in the middle of the field. A medal for this young Native American from South Dakota was just a dream.

But then Billy stunned the running world.

In one of the most amazing moments in Olympic history, this 26-year-old underdog ran nearly a minute faster than he had ever previously run a 10,000-meter race. In the last lap of the still-celebrated race, Billy managed to stay with the leaders, but became boxed in and was then ultimately dropped in the final stretch. Undeterred, Billy went wide and put on one of the strongest finishing kicks in Olympic history-to break the tape first and win the gold. It was the first and only Olympic 10,000m gold medal ever won by an American, or even a runner from the Western Hemisphere.

I include a special section below which Mills shared at the commencement, in which he reveals some astonishing details about his troubled past and how close America came to losing this legend before he achieved his celebrated gold medal. Although a bit lengthy, in my view it's worth the read.

Mills Early Life and the 10,000-Meter Race as Told by Billy Mills

I was heartbroken when my mom died. I was 8 and my dad spoke to me in words I couldn't understand then. "Son, you have broken wings-but some day, you'll have wings of an eagle." Through my tears I saw him take a stick and try to draw a circle with it in the ground. I remember him saying, "Step inside the circle and close your eyes," which I did. He asked, "How do you feel?" I was just a kid and I couldn't respond. "What do you see?" he asked. I still couldn't answer him. He clapped his hands. Boom! And I remember shaking with my eyes still closed. He said, "I'll tell you what you feel; I'll tell you what you see." He said, "You feel anger and pain." He told me that I should expect that, because I just lost my mom. He said, "You probably feel some hate, because people have expressed hatred toward you. Jealousy, because you don't have anything of material value. But the jealousy blinds you." He said, "You don't see the virtues or the values of our culture, of other cultures. You don't see the good in people. You have a whole lot of self-pity." He said, "All these emotions will destroy you."

Then he hugged me and said, "Son, you have to look deeper-way down deep, below the hurt, the anger, the hate, the jealousy, the self-pity, because that's where your dreams lie." He continued to talk this way to me until I was twelve and he passed away when he was only 49. He said, "You have to look so deep for the dream, until something miraculous happens to you and you get to know yourself. There's only one destiny greater than the destiny we choose for ourselves and that is the destiny our creator chooses for us."

My junior year of college I came so close to committing suicide. It was at a Cross Country Championship meet. During the photo session I was asked to step out of the shot. I had been asked to step out of photos before then, at least three or four times. At the time I thought it was for racial reasons. And so that time I broke. It was the whole conglomeration of incidents that caused me to break down. It was a fatigue of circumstances that had happened to me. I didn't have the maturity to work through them. I didn't rationalize why I was asked to get out of the picture; I didn't understand that there could be other reasons besides racial for it. I just knew it was time to give up. And so I stayed in the picture, but I went back to my room and decided to commit suicide.

I'm on a chair and I'm going to jump. Somehow I heard my father speaking. I didn't hear it through my ears but it was in my skin. "DON'T. DON'T," he was telling me. It was like, wow. I believe my Creator sent my dad's voice to me. I got down off the chair. And something made me reach for a pen and write down these words: "Gold medal. 10,000-meter run. BELIEVE. BELIEVE. BELIEVE." And right there and then I started training for the games.

Flash forward to a few years later. It's October 14, 1964, and I'm coming off the turn on the Olympic track in Tokyo. In the lead is the favorite Ron Clarke, the world record holder from Australia, then Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia and then me. And I'm hitting low blood sugar. Three hundred yards to go and I consciously decide to let them get maybe 10 yards ahead of me. In the past, every time I'd felt this low blood sugar and seen somebody make his move 300 yards out I'd gone with him-only to fold in the finishing sprint. So I made the decision to let them go ten yards up on me. I decided I would wait for the last 120 yards and try to catch them. So here we are, coming off the final curve in Tokyo. There are more than 75,000 screaming people in the stadium but all I hear is the drum of my heart. Clarke and Gammoudi are running neck and neck. I'm eight yards behind them. I'm six yards behind them. And then I'm only four yards back. I'm thinking, "Now, I've gotta go ... see if I can last until the finish." But this lapped German runner, moves in front of me so I'm boxed in. A thousand thoughts went through my mind in the last 100 yards. First, "Can I go inside?" I can't because of the lapped runners in the inside lane. I have to go-and I'm thinking that that might cost me three or four yards. All of sudden, the German must have sensed me coming because he moved out into the fifth lane. Wow! It opened up the fourth lane to me.

And I was just saying to myself, "NOW, NOW!" As I go by the German runner, I see out of the corner of my eye the eagle-the emblem of Germany-on his singlet. And I get a flashback to my Dad's words-"Some day, you'll have wings of a eagle." I knew in that instant that I could win. I COULD WIN! But Clarke and Gammoudi are still ahead of me. In the last 30 or 40 yards, I had a momentary thought that it was not going to be humanely possible to catch them. But I told myself, "Believe! Believe! You have to do it now." I must have thought a million times that I may never be this close again to winning a gold. I surged like I was on eagle's wings ... and I felt the tape break across my chest. I'd won the gold medal, running almost a minute faster than I'd ever done before. Gammoudi took silver and Clarke the bronze.

Now, here's the strangest thing. Afterwards I look for the German runner-and see there's no eagle on his chest. But when he's putting on his warm-up jacket, there's the eagle of Germany on the back! In the Native American tradition, the eagle takes messages to God. So it's almost as if God heard my wish, my desires, my passion. I felt that that moment was a gift to me-a gift to me from a higher power.

Mills Concludes

"The ultimate is not to win, but to reach within the depths of your capabilities and to compete against yourself to the greatest extent possible," Mills said. "When you do that, you have dignity. You have the pride. You can walk about with character and pride no matter in what place you happen to finish".

"Culture, tradition, spirituality, are the footprints in the horizon of our future," Mills concluded. "It's the virtues of our culture, the gift is values. Global unity through global diversity, you have wings of eagles, you may have broken wings, but we can break the cycle of broken dreams, use the virtues and the values. You have a unique gift take it to the community; the talent will equal the passion. Don't quit before the miracle!"

Diplomas Awarded

After Mills inspiring speech, those assembled heard from the Betty Kimbrall and Jennifer Schoenborn who were Valedictorian and Salutatorian respectively. Both had a 4.0 average.

Next, to the tune of Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance," Linda Bedeau RLNC instructor, read off the graduate names punctuated with a few sentence biography. One by one, each student ascended the stage to receive their diplomas from President King aided by Board of Regents Chair Cook, and VP of Academic Affairs Schramm

The graduates now standing in line at the front of the stage, dressed in caps and gowns posed as photos flashed. A hundred flashes went off as the grads all tossed their caps in the air. The graduates now became a receiving line as those gathered came to shake the hands and share hugs with the new graduates. The colors retreated, the P-Town Boyz did and Honor Song, and all enjoyed a dinner of ribs, pulled beef, potato and wild rice.