By Dina Horwedel

The American Indian College Fund (The Fund) honored 33 American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2011-12 Student of the Year reception at the AIHEC conference. The program, sponsored by the Adolph Coors Foundation, awarded each honoree a $1,000 scholarship. American Indian College Fund President and CEO Richard B. Williams also presented S. Verna Fowler, president of College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI, with the Tribal College President Award for her contributions to American Indian education during her career. Fowler received a $1,000 award. Students of the year include the following:

• Jeremy Richey, Aaniiih Nakoda College

• Daraka McLeod, Bay Mills Community College

 • Paula Bremner, Blackfeet Community College

• Ryan Brown, Cankdeska Cikana Community College

• Wade Longie, Chief Dull Knife College

• Therese Coon, College of Menonimee Nation

• Alvin Dahozy, Diné College

• Chad Auginash, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

• Noel Baker, Fort Berthold Community College

• Beau Plummer, Fort Peck Community College

• Curt Pahmahmie, Haskell Indian Nations University

• Jacqueline Aamodt, Ilisagvik College

• Charles Rencountre, Institute of American Indian Arts

• Sarah Garver, Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College

• Daryl Coons, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College

• Kim Dickson, Leech Lake Tribal College

• Eric Lewis, Northwest Indian College

• Ronnea Gramling, Little Big Horn College

• Jessica Stout, Little Priest Tribal College

• Dwight Carlston, Navajo Technical College

• Brian Morris, Nebraska Indian Community College

• Lester Wells, Oglala Lakota College

• Brenda Walker, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College

• Amy Stiffarm, Salish Kootenai College

• Dera Iyotte, Sinte Gleska University

• Anna Iskra, Sisseton Wahpeton College

• Palani Luger, Sitting Bull College

• Vincent Waquiu, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute

• Teena Thompson, Stone Child College

• Benedict Jose, Tohono O’odham Community College

• Renee Belgarde, Turtle Mountain Community College

• Laramie Plainfeather, United Tribes Technical College

• Pamela Fairbanks, White Earth Tribal and Community College

In other news, Charity Navigator, the nation’s top charity evaluation system, has awarded The Fund a coveted four-star rating for sound fiscal management and transparency. This is The Fund’s third consecutive four-star rating. In May, The Fund also confirmed the addition of Dr. Florence McGeshick Garcia, president of Fort Peck Community College (FPCC, Poplar, MT) and Albert Gaylor, vice president of industry relations and diversity for Sysco Corporation, to the board.

Garcia, Washte Hinapawe (Good Woman Comes Out), is an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. She earned her doctorate in adult and higher education from Montana State University – Bozeman and served as the academic vice president at FPCC before beginning her tenure as president in January 2012.

Gaylor has had a prestigious career as an executive with more than 40 years of experience in the food industry managing well-known American grocery and food service brands. He is vice president of industry relations and diversity for Sysco Corporation, a Fortune 100 company and North America’s leading marketer and distributor of food service products with $40 billion in annual sales.