Twenty University of Wyoming students are the recipients of Chief Washakie scholarships for the coming academic year.
They will be recognized at the American Indian Studies Honoring of Graduates ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, May 7, in the Wyoming Union Family Room.
New recipients are Jeanie Hede, social work master's candidate, Lander; Caleb Her Many Horses, mathematics freshman, Lander; Thurlo Jenkins, engineering freshman, Riverton; Ernest Lawson, American Studies junior, Laramie; Amanda LeClair, English master's candidate, Fort Washakie; Valerie Long, social science/psychology senior, Buffalo; and Signa McAdams, health sciences sophomore Fort Washakie.
Also, Malia Means, microbiology freshman, Ethete; Shayne Mitchell, psychology senior, Riverton; Juanita Mount, social work junior, Riverton; Alison Myers-Chavis, criminal justice junior Fort Washakie; Yufna Soldier Wolf, anthropology senior St. Stephens; Alicia Underwood, agricultural business junior Fort Washakie, and Donelle Warren, psychology junior Riverton.
Current recipients of the Chief Washakie scholarship who will continue to receive support for the coming year are Melvin Arthur, social work junior Ethete; Crystal Bearing, second B.S. degree in history and environment and natural resources, Laramie; Nan Craft, organizational leadership junior St. Stephens; Marrisa Goggles, criminal justice junior, Fort Washakie; Blanche Ridgely, in interdisciplinary studies doctoral candidate, Lander; and Burnett Whiteplume, curriculum and instruction doctoral candidate, Arapahoe.
The scholarship program was created in 2003, when the Chief Washakie Foundation gave $200,000 to UW. Funds were collected to create Chief Washakie statues in the United States and Wyoming capitol buildings and the joint tribal headquarters in Fort Washakie. The gift was matched by the state, creating a $400,000 endowment which annually produces income for the scholarships.
The Chief Washakie Memorial Endowment at UW was established to help students and educators with significant ties to the Wind River Reservation community gain formal knowledge, skills and abilities.
"The spirit of the award assumes that the recipients have, as part of their ultimate goals, some direct participation, appropriate to their educational background, in activities that will further the common good of the people of the reservation," says John Nutter from the UW Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.
For more information about the Chief Washakie scholarships, call Nutter at (307) 766-5123.
