The American Indian College Fund

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Nicole Adams
303.426.8900

DENVER, CO (March 13, 2005) - The American Indian College Fund has named its top American Indian tribal college students as 2006 "Students of the Year" based on their academic achievements and service to the community. The Fund hosted an awards banquet in Green Bay, Wisconsin on March 12, 2006, where each recipient received the prestigious award and was also honored with a $1,000 scholarship sponsored by the Castle Rock Foundation.

"The American Indian College Fund is honored to recognize the achievements of all of these students," said Fund President Richard B. Williams. “Each has demonstrated that through education, anything is possible."

Ranging in age from 19 years to 54 years, the Students of the Year represent a variety of tribes and attend tribal colleges throughout the United States. Despite working toward degrees in various disciplines, each possesses a record of academic excellence and community service. Students of the Year are selected through a highly competitive process by each individual tribal college.

The complete list of 2006 Students of the Year, including tribal affiliation and tribal college, follows.

Donna Azure, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Turtle Mountain Community College
Tashina Azure, Turtle Mountain Chippewa/Meskwaki, Haskell Indian Nations University
William Badboy, White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Leech Lake Tribal College
Lisa Bresette, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewas, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College
Brian Brown, Sicangu Lakota, Sine Gleska University
Kevin Brown, Navajo, Institute of American Indian Arts
Velden Calica, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Blackfeet Community College
Crystal Carr, Navajo, Diné College
Olivia Colon, Fort Peck Assiniboine, Fort Peck Community College
Wallace Dale, Navajo Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Darrell Decoteau, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Sisseton Wahpeton College
Charleen Eagle Elk, Oglala Sioux, Oglala Lakota College
Dana Ferguson-Michaley, Oglala Sioux, Nebraska Indian Community College
Gina Gregor, Oneida/Menominee, College of Menominee Nation
Tammy Hammer, Mandan/Hidatsa, Fort Berthold Community College
Tilda Harrison-Woody, Crownpoint Institute of Technology
Penelope Jackson, Spirit Lake Tribe, Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Leah Jahnke, Bay Mills Indian Community, Bay Mills Community College
Rebecca Krueger, Yankton Sioux, Little Priest Tribal College
Adam Lane, Lummi, Northwest Indian College
Lawrence Lopez, Tohono O'odham, Tohono O'odham Community College
Mariah Maxwell, Northern Cheyenne, Chief Dull Knife College
Terry Medicine Crow , Standing Rock Sioux, United Tribes Technical College
Elvis Old Bull, Crow, Little Big Horn College
Angela Roney, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College
Candace Shade, Red Crow Community College
Gloria Shalifoe, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe Community College
Jason Smith, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe, Salish-Kootenai College
Mary Jo Townsend, White Earth Ojibwe, White Earth Tribal and Community College
Randall Werk, Gros Ventre, Fort Belknap College
Daryl Wright, Chippewa/Cree, Stone Child College
Madonna Youngbear-McCarthy, White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

About the American Indian College Fund

The American Indian College Fund has spent more than a decade helping to increase educational opportunities for Native students. With its credo "educating the mind and spirit," the Fund is the nation's largest provider of private scholarships for American Indian students, providing 5,000 scholarships annually for American Indian students seeking to better their lives through continued education. In addition to distributing scholarships to students attending tribal colleges across the country, the Denver, Colorado-based Fund also supports endowments, developmental needs and public awareness for the tribal colleges. Tribal colleges, commonly referred to as "underfunded miracles, "serve more than 30,000 part-and full-time students, representing over 250 tribes. To learn more about the Fund, visit www.collegefund.org .

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