At the time, these words rang true for me and for many of my colleagues working for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. We come to work each day knowing that we contribute to a movement that changes lives. Rick s words came back to me again last spring as we visited some of the woodland tribal colleges in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Dana and Dan Gretz and their twin daughters, Berit and Hayley, at a recent college fashion show where the girls were introduced as future LCO students. I see it here everyday, Michael Price told us at Leech Lake Tribal College.
People come in here who are picking up and starting over.
Minn. An associate degree doesn t matter much elsewhere, but here it is a right to live. Students come here and start believing, Maybe I have a reason to live. Some of the short stories and poems in this issue give a glimpse of the horrors that some students experience before they arrive at the tribal college incest, alcoholism, racism, abuse, problems that have robbed them of hope and a reason to live. One of Michael Price s students told him that science gave him similar solace, providing order in the midst of chaos, as well as career options. Price came to Leech Lake from an American Indian non-profit organization that works primarily with mainstream institutions and private corporations.