Red Cloud Indian School students receiving the Gates Millennium Scholarship include Tad Sharp, Myriam Rama and Aaron Thompson
Rez Students Win Gates Scholarships
By Tom Crash
Lakota Country Times Correspondent ALBUQUERQUE, N.Mex. – The official announcement was out on Friday, May 1 from the American Indian Graduate Program that 11 students in South Dakota had been selected for the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, an award that allows the student to attend any school or university of his or her choice in the country with expenses paid by Gates through the undergraduate degree and in certain fields of study through a graduate degree. As many as 57,000 students applied for this scholarship. Selected in our area included Tarriah Provost, James Chief and Shane Rooks from Little Wound, Myriam Rama, Tadd Sharp and Aaron Thompson from Red Cloud, Anthony Red Feather-Ghost from Pine Ridge, Daniel Whirlwind Soldier from Todd County, Hannah Higdon and Bethany O’Connell of Dupree and Kaleb Hartley from Wagner. The actual value of a Gates scholarship could be as much as $250,000 but it provides more than financial resources, there are leadership development opportunities, academic and social support and additional scholarship support for graduate work in computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.
Tarriah Provost, a student at Little Wound School, plans to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder
“The application process was very stressful, there were eight essays, some were really hard to get into, a lot of late nights but it all paid off,” said Tarriah Provost, Little Wound senior who plans to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder in the fall, “I want to be a Gates Ambassador, come back during the year and help high school students, looking forward to giving back.” Provost plans to major in women and gender studies with a minor in ethnic studies; if I hadn’t been selected for the Gates, I was going to Ft. Lewis College in southwestern Colorado, added Tarriah, getting through college without a lot of debt is important, the Gates helps me go to a college with the field of study I’m interested in, no I don’t know what my career will be but it’ll come, Boulder is a great community, a beautiful campus and a strong support community with students from all around the country and the world. “As a Native American, it’s an honor to have the opportunity to go to college, all Native Americans should have this opportunity, I’m concerned about having to deal with stereotypes, many of them negative,” said Provost who plans to work in Rapid City to earn some extra college money and maybe enough for a car, “I want to represent my people in a good manner because my heritage and way of life was very influenced by our culture.” In a six year period, Gates scholars graduate at a rate of 87%, 28% higher than national graduation rates for all students. Gates Scholars come from 47 states and seven territories, “With the Gates, I plan to build my confidence at a smaller, local school, University of South Dakota, then apply to Dartmouth or Stanford,” said Daniel Whirlwind Soldier, a senior at Todd County high school, “I didn’t think I had a chance to get the Gates, had to talk myself into trying for it and I made plans as if I wasn’t going to get it, changed my life when I found out I’d been selected.” Whirlwind Soldier plans to major in environmental science, this summer he plans to work at Crazy Horse Mountain from June 6 into August; he also received the Ullyot Lakota Scholarship, the Horatio Alger Scholarship and is a SD Regents Scholar.
James Chief, a senior at Little Wound, relaxes with a family member. With the Gates scholarship, Chief plans to enroll at Montana State University this fall for the first year then may go to Yale.
“Towards the end, I was getting real nervous, my mom called me said while I was at school that I had a letter from Gates, it wasn’t until I saw the envelope and how full it was that I knew, it was the biggest relief ever, it changed my life,” said James Chief, a senior at Little Wound, “without the Gates, I was going to SDSU but now I’m going to Montana State University in Bozeman for at least a year then I’m going to apply to Yale.” Two teachers at Little Wound really helped James, Dan Snethen and Deveney Buffalo, his work at Upward Bound in Boulder and a microbiology internship at the National Institute of Health in Washington DC last summer all helped. Chief is looking at a pre-med curriculum and wherever he ends up, he plans to continue the theater work he was involved in at Little Wound. “Just didn’t think that I’d get it, then I did,” said Myriam Rama, a Red Cloud senior,”with the Gates Scholarship, I’m going to Creighton University in Omaha, if I didn’t get it, I would have gone to SDSU in Brooking; either way I was going pre-med with an emphasis on biology.” Rama really likes the Creighton campus and two of her dad’s sisters live in Omaha, I’ve been to Omaha about five times already, added Myriam, I’m going back to DC again for an internship at the National Institute of Health, really good experience, rigorous, worked in clinical but had to write up labs and reports as well. “The biggest challenge will be not having the comfort of having my dad right there, getting help when I need it,” said Rama, “and making the transition from the res to Omaha and Creighton.” Also a senior at Red Cloud, Tad Sharp put a lot of energy into the Gates application, it gives me choices, I plan to start at Black Hills State University in Spearfish taking a pre-med curriculum then looking at the University of Seattle or Minnesota State University if I decide not to do pre-med, it’ll be English, I want to travel, teach English as a second language in Europe or Asia – the Gates opens all kinds of opportunities. “Boy, when I heard I got the Gates, I was jumping up and down,” said Anthony Red Feather-Ghost, a senior at Pine Ridge, “I’m still going my first year to University of South Dakota in Vermillion but I’m looking at Harvard for the second year, if I like it at USD, I’ll stay, if not, I’m going to Harvard.” The past four summers I’ve been at SD Gear Up at the School of Mines in Rapid City, it helped me get used to being away and away from my family, it helped prepare me for the Gates, added Tony, I received a lot of support from two Pine Ridge grads Anissa Martin and Destiny Leftwich, they really encouraged me to apply. GearUp took me around to the South Dakota colleges and universities, I had a chance to visit USD in Vermillion, it’s close to Sioux Falls and has a nice cultural building, added Ghost, long time ago I thought about going into law but now I’m looking at criminal justice or psychology. “There were times that I really doubted myself, others times not,” said Aaron Thompson, a senior at Red Cloud, “I plan to major in physics, I love science, the Gates means I can go to college anywhere, gives you freedom to do whatever you want.” It looks like I’m going to Creighton, visited it once for four days, was a good place, added Thompson, this summer I’m going to hang out for the last time with my friends. The Gates Millennium scholarship was started through a $1.6 billion grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 1999 to help prepare the next generation of leaders; the scholarship amplifies the importance of investing in the next generation by removing financial barriers to education for high performing low-income students to attending any college or university of their choice. Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter.
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