The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Ethan Werk was recently named the American Indian College Student of the Year for Aaniiih Nakoda College. Sunday night he was presented with his award at a banquet held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium Conference (AIHEC) has grown tremendously through the years and Werk, along with a number of other ANC staff and students, were on hand. The official website describes the event as such, "Since the first AIHEC Student Conference in 1980, this annual event has grown from a few dozen participants to over 1,000 students, faculty, and staff coming together each spring to compete in academic, cultural, and artistic exercises; share stories, and best practices; participate in workshops and plenary sessions; and celebrate the Tribal College Movement. As participation has grown, the conference has also grown in complexity and organization. In 2010, the AIHEC Board of Directors, composed of the nation's Tribal College and University (TCU) presidents, requested that AIHEC and TCU staff begin the process of formalizing and standardizing the conference, including competition rules, participation requirements, judging, cost, etc. In 2013, the Board established the AIHEC Student Conference Commission to oversee this process."

"The ANC students took part in a variety of competitions", said Werk, these events included the Knowledge Bowl, Science Bowl, Archery, Poster Competition and Hand Games. Werk was chosen as ANC American Indian College Student of the Year for his academic achievements, community involvement, and commitment to excellence and growth. Werk stated, "On a personal level it means a lot to me because I put in so much work and commitment to this college since I'm a dual enrolled student. I'm taking two degrees at the same time, the 2-year Industrial Trades Program and the 4-year Aaniiih Nakoda Ecology program."

Werk is motivated by his accomplishments and hopes they encourage others to follow, "It's something I'm really proud of and honestly, I'm just trying to set the bar for my younger siblings to follow and to show them it's possible. I guess my plan to help others is just to show them that it's possible to do good things on the reservation and I like to think I'm proof of exactly that."

It certainly would seem that a student that achieves this kind of recognition at a place of higher learning must have always been a good student, right? "I was not always the student I am now," said Werk. "In high school I didn't try and graduated at the bottom of my class in 2020." Having developed into a first-rate student Werk is excited for what's next, "I'm hoping after I graduate with my Bachelors in Aaniiih Nakoda Ecology I can get an internship with the Smithsonian and get out of Montana for a while and learn some different things and then eventually come back home to teach.

Werk is thrilled to be a part of the conference, "The AIHEC conference has a lot of different events Archery is one of them and that's one of the things I'm going down to compete in I'll also be competing in the Science Bowl, Stickgame tournament, and I also have a Poster presentation that's also like a competition." Competition was still ongoing at press time. The ANC Science Bowl team included Werk along with Sonny Gray, and Terron Gray. The team was coached by Dan Kinsey. The Archery Team was coached by Michael Kinsey and consisted of Josiah Longfox, Terron Gray, Weslyn Schilling, and Werk. The Knowledge Bowl team consisted of coach Braydon Fitzpatrick along with students, Dani Plumage, Morgan Johnson, Neal Hogan, and Serena Chandler.

ANC was well represented at the AIHEC Student Conference. As as more results become available the Blaine County Journal will certainly pass the information on to our readers.