Tribal college students rack up trophies at higher-ed convention

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Renata Birkenbuel
ICT

MINNEAPOLIS — The Institute of American Indian Arts, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, chalked up 23 awards to lead all tribal colleges in wide-ranging competitions at the 40th annual American Indian Higher Education Consortium in Minneapolis earlier in March.

Tribal college students cheered, sang and shouted with glee as Emcee Branden Bowstring announced place winners first-through-fourth in at least 20 events held over the course of the annual conference. Competition proved fierce and fiery, as about 800 students and their instructors from 32 schools filled the huge banquet hall.

Students Kendrick Whiteman Jr., Northern Arapaho, and teammate Wakinyan Ghost Dog, Oglala Sioux Tribe, cleaned up in the film categories to lead their IAIA championship team with a total of 14 golds.

Other first-place IAIA winners were:

• Avery Hale in the 5-kilometer run
• Soledad Flores Gudino in nonbinary top archer and contemporary photography
• Feather Candelaaria in contemporary pottery
• Ghost Dog in best live-action narrative film
• Redhouse Puppet group in one-act play
• Breana Brave Heart in best informative speech/serious and individual oral interpretation/serious
• Isabel Contreras in individual oral interpretation

“They typically compete for the most awards,” said Bowstring, Leech Lake Band and Leech Lake Tribal College graduate. “They take home a lot of those art category prizes. (There’s) a lot of talent down there.”

Bowstring livened up the crowd of conference-goers with jokes and pep galore at the podium in front of a stage brimming with tall, gleaming Academy Award-style trophies.

“That place was packed,” Bowstring said. “It was a good time. It was loud.”

Navajo Tech of Crownpoint, New Mexico, finished second in the team standings, with a single first-place win, plus a solid six individual second-place finishes and five third-place finishes.

Turtle Mountain Community College of Belcourt, North Dakota, finished third with five first places, four second places and one third place.

Haskell Indian Nations University of Lawrence, Kansas, came in fourth, as its team tallied five individual first-place wins.

Bowstring hailed the opening night of the student-focused conference, when poets showed off their creative stuff.

“The Poetry Slam kind of sets the stage for everything going forward. You want to kind of bring that energy and, you know, there's a lot of energy in that room that Saturday night,” Bowstring said. “Poetry slam is one of my favorite things to do there – just to hear all the different poems and words and it's just beautiful … words. It’s a really good time and it's a very powerful soul, some of those poems.”

Addisyn LeBeau of Haskell Indian Nations University surprised herself, capturing the coveted first-place trophy in the poetry slam, followed by Alexus Perreault of White Earth Tribal & Community College in second. LeBeau’s winning poem is titled ‘Life After Diamonds . ’

LeBeau admitted she was terrified, yet she courageously pushed ahead onstage in a quest to heal herself and others with her unique, vulnerable, but ultimately redemptive words.

“It’s actually my first time sharing my work on a stage with the spotlight on me,” said LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux and Cherokee from Oklahoma.

“I think back to AP English in high school, and my teacher showing us slam poets,” LeBeau added. “I fell in love with the way they spoke, stringing their words along and having this inspiring intensity. You could feel their presence even through the screen, it was empowering or heartbreaking. No rules, you could feel whatever you needed to, and it was accepted. It was this ultimate safe space I wanted to be a part of so badly.”

Her coach, Jeremy Shield, who is Apsalooke, Crow and Oglala Lakota Oyate, said that English professor Amy Hume gave him her blessing to coach at the conference.

“The poetry slam for AIHEC is the ice breaker of the conference, so it's a big deal if you win and let alone qualify into the late rounds,” Shield said.

“I was very elated to see one of our own go on and win the whole thing,” Shield added. “I am very proud of Addisyn. Her poems gave me and several others goose bumps the first time she read them to us. Her delivery was spot on. She came and thanked me and gave me a big hug and had a huge smile. The gratification at the moment was very uplifting.”

Another student, Jazmyne Torres of Stone Child College of Box Elder, Montana, won a prestigious AIHEC Student of the Year Award at the conference. Torres, Chippewa Cree, holds a 4.0 grade point average in studio arts. After langoring a while in Tucson, Arizona, she eventually joined her husband back in Montana and put her nose to the grindstone in college.

After graduation, Torres plans to open a combination art gallery and cosmetology shop to serve her tiny community. She meshes creativity with real-world offerings to meet needs.

“Get out of your comfort zone,” Torres, 31, advises young people who haven’t set a solid life course yet. “Get involved in your community.”

That’s exactly what LeBeau did – bravely took the leap for herself and her community.

“I feel extremely grateful to be a part of all this and honored that you wish to know more about me,” LeBeau said. “I will do my best moving forward to make my ancestors, my people, and most importantly myself proud. As this whole involvement with AIHEC has been very meaningful to me, I will let it be. I will continue to make art, not to win the awards but to understand myself more and fulfill my heart.”

Another student flew his talents a bit under the radar.

Taysean Burke, a Salish Kootenai College student, shared his role as his school’s mascot in the Parade of Flags Grand Entry and the Opening Ceremony at the conference.

As Stewie the Bison, Burke took a breather in the halls, removing his costume head for a world peek after the ceremonies. He won a tee shirt for his portrayal and sportsmanship.

Other competitive AIHEC events include archery, hand games, basketball tournaments for women and men – and academics like science, business and knowledge bowls, plus chess, critical inquiry, speech and cybersecurity.

Archery is starting to pick up steam, ‘cause when I used to go to AIHEC, it wasn't that big of a deal,” Bowstring said. “But now I see everyone there carrying bows.”

As for the popular knowledge bowl, host Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, Minn. won this year behind team Waawaate. Oglala Lakota College of Kyle, South Dakota, placed second. Aaniih Nakoda College of Harlem, Montana, placed third.

Like a lot of tribal college instructors, Shield wears many hats at Haskell. He helped with the hand game competitions at AIHEC, plus he’s batting coach for the softball team back home.

“I take the responsibility of handling the cultural side of things on campus,” said Shield. “Singing flag songs, honor songs, opening songs. etc. I've been at Haskell for 27 years as a student and now as an employee.”

Giving back to their community seems to be in tribal college educators’ DNA. At the conference, from start to finish, spirits remained high.

“My job was to, to keep the crowd lively and keep 'em, you know, laughing and kind of just keep things going forward,” said Bowstring, a self-described entertainment freelancer who earned an associate’s degree in early childhood education.

“Hopefully, I did that. ‘Cause, like I said, it was pretty loud in there and everyone said they had fun. I had fun there too.”

First-year attendee LeBeau said the conference opened up new worlds for her.

“I can only describe it as this sort of whirlwind glimmering experience,” she said. “I loved it. Every step I took had meaning and every move I made had a purpose. Everything was done with intent, as a collective of tribal schools we were able to come together to walk a path of bettering ourselves, whether it was academically, in the arts, or athletically.

The AIHEC community remains strong and memorable. Visit the organization’s Facebook page for more results.

“As a whole, it felt like we were all on the same page and felt important,” LeBeau added. “This is something I think we’ve severely lacked as a community and culture, so to be able to find a place that nurtures this feeling of importance, is very special to me. I will be attending for as long as I can.”

The 2025 conference is slated for Rapid City, South Dakota.

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