Recruiting on the rez: University of Montana appeals directly to American Indian students

The lack of street signs on some of this reservation’s backroads makes giving directions to John Collins’ house nearly impossible.

But the trip is worth it. The front porch looks out onto dense forests and rugged, rocky cliffs. From the backyard flow wide-open prairies that make it possible at night to see the lights from Joplin and Inverness, some 70 road miles away.

It’s a place the 17-year-old proudly calls home, just as his parents, siblings and many, many relatives do. Though some of Collins’ classmates are eager to leave the reservation and see college as their ticket out, the senior at Box Elder High School finds himself on the fence.

"A lot of people hate it," he said during a ride home from school last week. "I don’t get why they hate it. It’s where you live."

It’s never easy to leave home for the first time, but for Collins and many other Native American students, choosing to leave the reservation – and their strong family ties here – to pursue a four-year college degree is among the toughest decisions they’ll face.

As Rocky Boy school bus driver Ivan Morning puts it, it’s like "prying teeth."

Yet the University of Montana http://www.umt.edu/future.aspx is making an effort to recruit these students in a big way.

By CHELSI MOY of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_9ac2f506-a5a3-11de-ba74-001cc4c03286.html