Indian College Fund honors Gott at U.N.

SALISBURY — Judi Gott was honored by the American Indian College Fund (AICF) as Volunteer of the Year at a "blanket honoring ceremony" at the United Nations on November 8. Gott, who has been a longtime financial donor to the fund, began volunteering her time after she took her first tour of four Indian colleges in Montana in 2002.

John Gritts, a Cherokee who was formerly with the college fund and is now director of admissions at the Institute of American Indian Arts, thanked Gott for her "heartfelt" work as she "stepped forward to do anything she could to help the fund meet its mission and goals."

Gott began by volunteering for a month at a time in the AICF headquarters in Denver, Colo., and eventually developed and led tours to the colleges served by the fund. To Gott, a lover of the Southwest and its Native American culture, education is the only answer to the ongoing challenges of poverty and the resultant social ills on Indian reservations.

"I believe education is the only way to become self-sufficient," said Gott. Unlike the pattern at mainstream colleges, "tribal college students are given critical social and educational support. They’re not allowed to fall through the cracks."

The American Indian College Fund was founded in 1989 to raise private-sector funds for 32 tribal colleges and universities on reservations in 11 states. The colleges offer academic courses but work to preserve Native American language and culture by integrating them into the curriculum.

Gott recalled the first graduation she attended at a tribal college in her acceptance speech. "My personal journey took a distinct new path that day," she said. "I learned that higher education is more than just a diploma to American Indian students. It is a first step on the way to success, the self-respect of accomplishment, a job, and hope for themselves and their families as well as for their tribes."

Gott, who supports two named AICF scholarships, one in honor of a deceased friend, Louis Webb, and another in honor of her son, Ben, a Hotchkiss graduate and teacher, was draped in a ceremonial red and blue robe by Gritts and Richard B. Williams, president and CEO of the AICF, after her talk. The "Day and Night" blanket is a version of the traditional beaded strip blanket worn by the North Plains people.

For Native Americans, important moments are celebrated with gifts of wool blankets.

The 2007 Flame of Hope Gala, staged in the Members Dining Room at the United Nations, included a silent auction of Indian artifacts and performances by the Redhawk Dance Troupe in full regalia. In addition, Trivia Afraid of Lightning, a Cheyenne River Sioux who is a single mother of two, spoke movingly of the challenges she has faced and how higher education enabled her to transform her life.