CPN students from throughout the United States were selected to participate in the 2024 Potawatomi Leadership Program. The six-week program brings Tribal members aged 18-20 to the Nation’s headquarters near Shawnee, Oklahoma, for an immersive experience.
Whether they’d completed high school or college, Citizen Potawatomi Nation celebrated its recent graduates with a graduation celebration and lunch.
Representatives from Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Department of Education presented at the IDEAL Conference (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access in Leadership) in Indianapolis, Indiana, in April.
For fall 2024, students applying for the Tribal scholarship will be able to request that the funding be designated as “for room and board.” This is to allow students like those who attend University of California schools to access their full Tribal benefits.
Tribal members are invited to the Niben (summer) Virtual Talking Circle with the CPN Department of Education Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. CST!
As the annual Potawatomi Leadership Program drew to its close, the participants reflected on what they learned throughout their six weeks with Citizen Potawatomi Nation and encouraged other Potawatomi youth to apply for next year’s program.
Rachel Watson, CPN Department of Education Senior College Advisor, offers advice to students applying to The Gates Scholarship. Watson encourages students to start their application early, be themselves, display their passions and achievements, and to ask for help from mentors, teachers or the Department of Education.
The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Department of Education unveiled a new program this spring designed to help CPN students fully embrace their Potawatomi heritage. The first-ever Coming Into the Circle event was designed to encourage high school graduates to claim their Indigenous identity and help them feel they belong to a bigger community.
This month 20 years ago, Citizen Potawatomi Nation welcomed the first group of students to participate in the Potawatomi Leadership Program. Brittany Destree Dek was 17 years old in 2003 and participated in the PLP between her junior and senior years of high school. The Bertrand family descendant reflects on her experience as one of the first students to benefit from the program.
One of the most anticipated parts of the Potawatomi Leadership Program is a reception at which the participants present the special projects they created that include programs, services or enterprises they envision for the Nation’s future. Read about this year’s projects and participant reflections.