Nine of 10 indigenous high school seniors at Suttons Bay are college bound and the tenth will enter the workforce or pursue a trade.
So reported Samantha TwoCrow, Suttons Bay’s Title VI Indian Education director, at the May 12 meeting of the Suttons Bay Board of Education.
“I tried really hard to convince the tenth (indigenous senior) to go to college, but it didn’t work,” she equipped.
Suttons Bay is required to hold their annual Title VI hearing and to give a presentation, informing the public on the services the program has been providing to indigenous students at the school. The program’s mission is to support the unique cultural and academic needs of Native American and Alaskan students from Pre-K through graduation. As a district with a Title VI designation, the program also provides a grant funding formula through the federal government for Native American education and support for indigenous students.
This year’s Indigenous student count was 145, steady with 202324. Of these, 115 are members of federal recognized tribes.
At the elementary level, there were 54 Native pupils and of these 36 are members of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians.
At the middle school level, 18 of 31 students were GTB members as were all but 10 of the 52 high school students belonging to the GTB.
Native students attending the school virtually numbers eight, with two from the local tribe.
“Seven tribal nations are represented in the count,” TwoCrow said.
The federally recognized state tribes represented in the count, in addition to the GTB, are the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi; the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Out of state students came from the Ho-Chuck Nation of Wisconsin; the Mille Lac Band of Minnesota and three affiliated tribes in North Dakota — Mandan, Hisatsa and Arikara.
The Indigenous Education Program Parent Committee recommended the continuation of three objectives for the 2025-26 school year:
• Increase academic achievement with culturally-responsive academic support; culturally responsive mentoring and dropout prevention.
• Increase knowledge of cultural identity and awareness through cultural enrichment; Indian (language and history); and Native language instruction.
• Increase college awareness in terms of career preparation; college preparation; and student advocacy and leadership.
TwoCrow was particularly proud of the students, many of whom will be the first generation of their family to attend college. Twenty-six are considered firstgeneration descendants and two more, second-generation.
