Sitting Bull College student Kaylie Trottier has received a Spirit of Sovereignty award scholarship from the National Indian Gaming Association.

Kaylie, as profiled in the article “works two jobs and drives 100 miles round trip to attend Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. The mother of two young children, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is working on a business degree. ‘I am pursuing higher education now,’ she said, ‘to show my girls how important education is.'” We at Sitting Bull College are glad she is! Congratulations, Kaylie.

To read the full article, click or see below:

http://www.pechanga.net/content/tribal-leaders-charity-slot-tournament-supports-spirit-sovereignty

Tribal Leaders Charity Slot Tournament  Supports Spirit of Sovereignty Kaylie Trottier works two jobs and drives 100 miles round trip to attend Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. The mother of two young children, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is working on a business degree. “I am pursuing higher education now,” she said, “to show my girls how important education is.” Kaylie’s road to success is made just a little easier thanks to the Spirit of Sovereignty, a National Indian Gaming Association-advised fund at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation that provides scholarships to students at 37 tribal colleges. Funds may be used for any education-related expenses, including but not limited to tuition, housing, childcare and travel. Spirit of Sovereignty also supports the Native Children’s Holiday Program, an annual campaign that provides toys, clothing and food for American Indian children. These programs are funded by donations from NIGA member tribes and associate members and individual contributors. To help raise money for Spirit of Sovereignty, NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr., is hosting the Tribal Leaders Charity Slot Tournament during the 2017 Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego. The slot tournament is on Thursday, April 13 at 1 p.m. and is being co-hosted by Everi, a NIGA associate member, in booth 1344. There are many compelling success stories among scholarship recipients. Jonathan Ammesmaki is at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Minnesota. The 27-year-old military veteran has two children and three foster children and wants to be a pharmacist. Joedes Emerson (Northern Cheyenne & Navajo) is studying science and math at Chief Dull Knife College in Montana and dreams of a career in engineering or aerospace. Samantha Milk (Oglala Lakota) graduated Magna Cum Laude from Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas where she is now working on a second degree in environmental science. As a single mother and full-time student, her finances can be tight and she appreciates the scholarship’s flexibility to pay for childcare and rent. All slot tournament winnings will be donated to Spirit of Sovereignty. The first-place winner will have the opportunity to direct $10,000 to support scholarships at tribal colleges or programs serving Native youth on the reservation of their choice. The second-place finisher will donate $5,000 with $3,000 for third. This event is a way to help students like Jerry Racine (Blackfeet) who is working on a bachelor’s degree in education at Blackfeet Community College. “At this point, the most difficult thing is funding,” said Jerry, who is using the money to cover rent, gas and other expenses. “Education is important, but it comes with a cost.” For more information on the slot tournament, contact Mary-Charlotte Grayson: emailMCGrayson@indiangaming.org or call 202-548-3812. Learn more about the Spirit of Sovereignty at www.spiritofsov.org.   Kaylie Trottier, pictured with her daughters Rylie (left) and Paislee (center), is a Spirit of Sovereignty scholarship recipient who attends Sitting Bull College in North Dakota. ABOUT NIGA The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), established in 1985, is a non-profit organization of 184 Indian Nations with other non-voting associate members representing organizations and businesses engaged in Tribal Gaming. The common commitment and purpose of NIGA is to advance the lives of Indian peoples economically, socially and politically. NIGA operates as a clearinghouse and educational, legislative and public policy resource for tribes, policymakers and the public on Indian gaming issues and tribal community development. For more information visitwww.indiangaming.org.

Mafany Mongoh, Professor, Ag/Science, Sitting Bull College, is among three faculty from tribal colleges in North Dakota and the state’s primarily undergraduate institutions who are collaborating with NDSU faculty in ND EPSCoR’s Track-1 Emerging Area Seed project. The three research groups are award recipients from the recent project competition. Each award is for $25,000 to augment ongoing intellectual merit and/or broader impact components of the project and develop more collaborative efforts between the ND EPSCoR centers for sustainable materials science (CSMS) and regional climate studies (CRCS). Jiang Long, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, NDSU, is the grant’s overall principal investigator.

Other award recipients, their departments, and institutions are:

Andre Delorme, Professor, Science, Valley City State University, and Eakalak Khan, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, NDSU, the grant’s overall principal investigator.

Kerry Hartman, Dean, Sciences, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, and Dilpreet Bajwa, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, NDSU, the grant’s overall principal investigator.

North Dakota EPSCoR is a federally and state funded program designed to improve the ability of university researchers to compete more effectively for federal, regional and private research grants in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics.

10-18-2016

For More Information Contact:

Elizabeth Jung

1735 NDSU Research Park Drive

North Dakota State University

Fargo, ND 58105-5760

(701) 231-1048

Sitting Bull College staff from the immersion program as well as the Lakota Summer Institute recently took part in a weekend celebrating the language. To read more see:

Rapid City Journal: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/weekend-to-help-bring-language-back-to-life/article_f4c36e4f-e358-55cc-8285-adde878c53fe.html

El Periódico de Catalunya: http://www.elperiodico.cat/ca/noticias/opinio/llengua-lakota-sioux-pas-mes-per-recuperar-se-5026710

Programs at Sitting Bull College have been hard at work with revitalizing the Lakota and Dakota languages. AICF and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation have shown a commitment to these efforts with a $1.5 million grant, Restorative Teachings, for 5 colleges including Sitting Bull College. Read more here: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/03/30/college-fund-launches-early-childhood-education-program-five-tribal-colleges-163962

After John Thompson, Director of the US Census, visited Sitting Bull College in February, the US Census Bureau determined that a Census test would be held for Standing Rock, which an ND Senator reported was “real win for Indian Country”. Read more at the Dickinson Press, here: http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/north-dakota/4009869-standing-rock-one-two-sites-host-us-census-test.