Clarena
Ah Ah Ni Nee (Gros Ventre)
University of Arizona

For more than 10 years, Clarena kept her completed graduate school application to University of Arizona in her desk drawer while answering calls from her elders in her leadership role at the Fort Belknap Indian reservation. She served as secretary and treasurer for her tribe, adding to the legacy of leaders in her family who served as council members and tribal chair. As she was serving her term, she says, “I kept the application to the University of Arizona. Every once in a while I would look at it to remind myself of my dream to attend graduate school.”

During those 10 years, she raised her children.  When she first started at Fort Belknap Community College, she was hired to oversee the construction and obtain a license for a public radio station for her community. She was  also responsible to fundraising and staffing the station. This led her  position as a development officer, where she wrote proposals for the college. Brockie is currently serving as Dean of Student Affairs at Fort Belknap College.

Today, Clarena is a lso a graduate student at University of Arizona in a dual program for masters and doctoral program in the Native American studies. She says, “I want to be able to teach Native American Literature and write old stories on the Ah Ah Ni people.” She adds that her mother has a wealth of old stories she wants to publish. She was recently named a Vine Deloria, Jr, Memorial scholar by the American Indian College Fund.