Her four children and her mother, Red Owl, will watch from the bleachers. Now offering three master s degree programs and enrolling more than 900 students, the college hopes to launch a doctorate program. Since it opened in 1971, about 900 students have graduated and the school is slowly sending a growing cadre of teachers to work in local schools. A growing number of non-Native Americans are attending Sinte, attesting to its reputation. At Sinte, students learn that many of their forebears were burned on their upper legs running through burning grass during a severe prairie fire in the 19th century.
Some early data shows that the mixture of culture and academics appears to be working.
One recent study shows higher rates of median income, employment, and postgraduate education among tribal college graduates compared with other American Indians living on reservations. Turtle Mountain College in North Dakota recently started a Center for New Growth and Economic Development. And throughout all the reservations, tiny pockets of microbusinesses like laundries and beadworking are sprouting. Still, many, if not most, fail. And most reservation casinos, billed as an economic lifeblood, are no Foxwoods.