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Leech Lake Tribal College Hosts Peer Tutoring Conference

(Nov. 10, 2009) – There is an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Leech Lake Tribal College recently hosted a seminar on learning center innovation gave other tribal colleges a glimpse of that maxim in action. In fact, LLTC’s Learning Center, now in the third year of a five-year Woksape Oyate grant administered by the American Indian College Fund, is beginning to look beyond the imposed boundaries of the reservation to the more inclusive village generally known as Indian country.

Eager to share the success of the college’s learning center, LLTC President Ginny Carney and Learning Center Director Deb LeClaire put together a one-day conference to share information and spark discussion on best practices. Held recently on November 5, 2009, the seminar, like LLTC’s learning center itself, focused on peer mentoring and student leadership. It was attended by representatives from five schools beyond Leech Lake with representatives travelling from Turtle Mountain, ND, White Earth, Fond du Lac, Lac Courte Oreilles, WI, and Keweenaw Bay, MI.

Carney’s search for funding to equip LLTC with a learning center is paying off in much bigger ways than perhaps she anticipated, and many at the seminar were pleased with the opportunity to explore the possibilities of collaboration between tribal colleges. “I found (it) a great opportunity to connect with other tribal colleges,” said Judy Shultz, long-time coordinator of Fond du Lac’s Center for Academic Achievement. “I especially appreciated the opportunity to meet not only with my colleagues but also with students who are tutors.”

The student tutors and peer mentors are integral to the center’s success at Leech Lake Tribal College. Encouraging learners at the two-year college to start early, looking beyond their own goals to the more inclusive endeavors of fellow students and community members, has helped create a strong feeling of camaraderie and a network of support that many non-traditional learners need to succeed.

Many who witnessed the LLTC peer mentor panel discussion at the seminar, including librarian Melissa Pond, were impressed by the students’ “commitment to practicing the seven Anishinaabe values in their work.” She sensed the panelists’ motivation not only to succeed but the importance they placed on their role to help others succeed.

“I saw many brilliant, yet very humble, spirits,” Pond said, “and the collaboration of diverse talents (that) help build up our learning center, college and community.”

That “other-centeredness” is just the sort of quality that intrigues LLTC Learning Center director Deborah LeClaire. As opposed to the way many learning institutions focus on encouraging students to become independent learners, LeClaire is interested more in the necessary interdependence, and the importance of collaboration that goes hand in hand with the Anishinaabe world view. That, of course is at the heart of everything that LLTC encourages its students to do and become.

“It’s much more than a remedial tutoring program,” LeClaire said. She cited the eager participation of the student population in the center’s “Lunch and Learns,” which allows peer mentors the opportunity to research and present a topic that they feel is of interest to the campus community.

Coming from the hearts of the mentors, the topics have proven popular. The periodic presentations have filled the 18 x 24 foot Learning Center to capacity with 25-30 people turning out to hear student talks on such topics as “Domestic Violence,” “Stress and Its Effects,” and “Memory and the Oral Tradition.”

The effect of that experience for both presenter and audience can be profound. And though the work is taxing on top of their regular class workload, the benefits appear to be worth it.

“I really feel like we are making a difference,” said Ashley Cloud a few days after the learning center seminar. Cloud is a first-year peer mentor who has struggled herself to get her college education off the ground. “I meet--and know--so many students who struggle,” Cloud said, “and being a part of a team of people that honestly want to help others is such a rewarding position to be in.”

That sentiment is shared by many in the LLTC Learning Center, and the seminar provided the chance for all to gain outside perspective as well as share experiences and ideas with colleagues in communities faced with similar challenges. “I think that exchanging ideas with each other on what works--or doesn’t work--for motivating potentially successful students to reach their goals, is a very useful tool for all of us,” said second-year peer mentor Barb Raines. “People helping people is what the whole learning center thing is all about. Looking at it realistically, behind every successful person, there is someone that helped them along their journey.”

And, true to form, LLTC and its Learning Center are reaching beyond the confines of the college and into the communities to facilitate the journey we are taking together.

In the spring semester 2010, peer mentors and learning center staff from LLTC are planning outreach into area high schools, putting the college students’ leadership skills to work, by showing the way to the next generation headed to college. A two-year institution can be a stepping stone to a four-year college and beyond. That step, though, is still a big change from high school and for too long, has been one that many fail to make successfully. How to model the habits, the skills and practice that it takes to set off on the path of success is what these student leaders are learning at LLTC, and their willingness to share what they are learning will help shape future generations.

In the meantime, the work continues at LLTC: providing quality higher education grounded in the Anishinaabe values of Humility, Truth, Courage, Honesty, Respect, Love, and Wisdom. The seminar, which by all accounts was a resounding success, has laid a foundation for the sharing of learning center resources—and of the intellectual capital invested in the people there. Among these six tribal institutions, one common way could emerge, one Anishinaabe bimaadiziwin.

“The wheels are turning,” summed up Roxanne Martinson, the Student Success Coordinator at Lac Court Oreilles, after the seminar. “I look forward to future workshops.”

With the true collaboration and sharing demonstrated at this first seminar, the future holds much promise for the many villages tied together by the spirit of our interdependence.

“I see this as the beginning of a long-term collaboration,” LeClaire said.