Today I will be heading down to Lapwai, Idaho home of the Nez Perce Nation and the Lapwai Wildcats. The community will be gathering to celebrate the success of Nez Perce youth who did not become a statistic. For those who may believe graduating high school is an easy feat, I’m here to share for American Indians and Alaska Natives it’s not all that easy. Recently I attended the Native American Student Advocacy Institute sponsored by the College Board and heard a wonderful keynote from Dr. John Tippeconnic (Comanche/Cherokee) about what graduation means to Indian people. Simply stated his words were exactly what we all needed to hear to keep striving for educational achievement, “We are making progress… today when one graduates, we all graduate.”
I look forward to joining family as we celebrate my cousins graduation to wish him well as he begins his next journey as a young adult.
God bless Indian country wherever graduation may have happened, been happening, and has yet to happen. Yox ~O
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