Tribal college and university students from across the country were honored Tuesday night in Albuquerque by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Students were awarded for their skills in knowledge, sports, and arts after three days of competition in various events at the consortium’s 2023 conference. 37 students traveled to New Mexico from Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota. Dawn Tobacco Frank is president of Oglala Lakota College. She says while students enhance their skills at the event, they learn valuable lessons back at school. Oglala Lakota College serves the Pine Ridge Reservation, and also has a satellite location in Rapid City, and on the Cheyenne-River Reservation offering degrees in business, social work, nursing, and other fields.
Longtime leader of the Navajo Nation Peterson Zah passed away Tuesday in Arizona, the Navajo Times reports. Zah was chairman of the Navajo council in the 1980s before becoming the first president of the Navajo Nation in 1990 when the tribe shifted its government system. He’s being remembered for his lifelong advocacy for Navajo people including encouraging young people to finish school and pursue higher education. Zah was living in Window Rock, AZ on the Navajo Nation with his family. He reportedly was in the hospital due to complications with cancer. Zah was 85 years old.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.