He looked at the people filling every available seat in the house. Then he asked, “What are you all doing here on a school night?”
“Research,” called out Buffalo Child, a Canadian Cree and communications major at the University of Montana who was sitting next to me, sipping a Coca Cola.
My table reflected a college crowd - professors, students and others who arrived for a night of music with outstanding performers, including Boyd, a Native American Music Award winner who was performing with the duo Irene and Deni.
Many of the people I sat with at The Other Side had just finished attending a welcome-back-to-school picnic for UM's Native students.
It's that time of year, when the rush of students returning to school can be felt throughout town.
It's one of the reasons I appreciate college towns like Missoula.
“It's vibrant and exciting,” said Russel Daniels, a transfer student who moved here from Salt Lake City. “There's a lot of energy, youthful energy, all kinds of energy.”
Earlier in the day, I sat in a café with Daniels, Ho-Chunk and Dine, and Wayne Smith, Crow and Blackfeet.
Both are journalism majors at the University of Montana. And they are among some 156,000 Native students attending either a two- or four-year college in the United States, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
While a college town like Missoula has tremendous depth of energy and extracurricular activities to offer students - the Rolling Stones play here Oct. 4 - it's the classroom that promises to fulfill students' dreams of leading productive lives in their communities.
More students are realizing what can be gained through education. Many are beginning their education at a tribal college.
Native enrollment at reservation-based colleges is growing at twice the rate of Native enrollment at four-year colleges or universities.
Student enrollment figures at tribal colleges grew by 32 percent between 1997 and 2002, compared to 16 percent enrollment growth at four-year colleges overall, according to a 2005 report by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Not all students can attend college. But those with a foot in the door are counting their blessings.
When Smith and I talked this week about the start of a new school year, he told me how college is changing his life. He said he used to “live dangerously” and wasn't feeling good about himself or life.
Now he believes in his ability in a way he never imagined.
He started looking at his life differently one day after some weathered oil rig workers on the Blackfeet Reservation asked him why he was working on a rig. They wanted to know why the Army veteran wasn't going to college.
He enrolled at Salish and Kootenai College on the Flathead Reservation and met an instructor who introduced him to a camera.
The instructor told him his images were strong and well-composed.
That was five years ago.
“I still have that note,” said the 28-year-old Smith.
The tribal college experience led him to the University of Montana, where he's pursuing photojournalism. Since he's been in school, more doors are opening. And he's meeting more people who continue to nurture his confidence, like the tribal college instructor did before them.
“I was a kid who didn't think he was worth a damn,” said Smith.
Now the camera is becoming a part of his life. And new skills and opportunities are changing his view about himself and his future. This summer, he completed a photo internship at the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota. Editors there sent him on an assignment to Bear Butte, a sacred site for dozens of tribes across the country. “It was a dream come true,” he said.
He's returning to college this fall feeling like a king. He knows he can keep pace in a newsroom with photographers who have decades of experience.
“I know the road now.”
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. Reach her at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net
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