American Indian College Fund Honors 33 Students

The American Indian College Fund (AICF) recently honored 33 Native American students at its 2011-12 Student of the Year reception, one for each tribal college and university.

The annual banquet took place March 27 during the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Rapid City, South Dakota, which was held March 24 to 28.

Each Student of the Year was presented with an award and a $1,000 scholarship. During the banquet, Dr. Verna Fowler, president of the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, Wisconsin, was presented with the Tribal College President Award for her contributions to American Indian education during her career. She is the founding president of the college.

“I am extremely grateful to the American Indian College Fund and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. If it were not for those two organizations that were the pioneers that had the initiative and the drive and the determination… none of us would be here today,” Fowler said at the banquet. “I also owe a lot to the tribal college presidents, both the current and the past, who set a path and called us all to a higher excellence in education. Way back in 1912 the Menominee sent a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs asking for a tribal college. It was finally these two organizations that came along and brought it to fruition.”

This year’s 33 Students of the Year were:

Aaniiih Nakoda College—Jeremy Richey, Allied Health

Bay Mills Community College—Daraka McLeod, General Studies

Blackfeet Community College—Paula Bremner, Business Management

Cankdeska Cikana Community College—Ryan Brown, Pre-engineering

Chief Dull Knife College—Wade Longie, Engineering

College of Menominee Nation—Therese Coon, Biological & Physical Sciences

Diné College—Alvin Dahozy, Environmental Science

Fond du Lac Tribal College—Chad Auginash, Electrical Utility Technology

Fort Berthold Community College—Noel Baker, Environmental Science

Fort Peck Community College—Beau Plummer, Business Technology

Haskell Indian Nations University—Curt Pahmahmie, Business Administration

Ilisagvik College—Jacqueline Aamodt, Allied Health

Institute of American Indian Arts—Charles Rencountre, Studio Arts

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College—Sarah Garver, Liberal Arts

Lac Courte Oreilles Community College—Daryl Coons, Native American Studies

Leech Lake Tribal College—Kim Dickson, Indigenous Leadership & Liberal Arts

Little Big Horn College—Ronnea Gramling, Pre-med (Science)

Little Priest Tribal College—Jessica Stout, Liberal Arts

Navajo Technical College—Dwight Carlston, Environmental Science

Nebraska Indian Community College—Brian Morris, Human Services

Northwest Indian College—Eric Lewis, Native American Studies

Oglala Lakota College—Lester Wells, Early Childhood Education

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College—Brenda Walker, Native American Studies

Salish Kootenai College—Amy Stiffarm, Life Sciences

Sinte Gleska University—Dera Iyotte, Cultural Resource Management

Sisseton Wahpeton College—Anna Iskra, Nursing

Sitting Bull College—Palani Luger, Environmental Science

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute—Vincent Waquiu, Natural Resource Management

Stone Child College—Teena Thompson, Elementary Education

Tohono O’odham Community College—Benedict Jose, Business Administration

Turtle Mountain Community College—Renee Belgarde, Nursing

United Tribes Technical College—Laramie Plainfeather, Small Business Management

White Earth Tribal and Community College—Pamela Fairbanks, Human Services

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