"Unofficially, the annual student conference of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium student conference offers a crash course in the latest youth trends in Indian Country.

The hand games contests continued to draw students this year who tried to outdo each other in distracting moves and elaborate masks.

I noted a lot more ‘bling’ in the jewelry overall and a whole lot more height in the women’s shoes. There were also competitions featuring the computer gaming system Wii as well as a film festival.

AIHEC represents 36 tribal colleges in the U.S. and one in Canada, and once a year they get together. Last month, they gathered in Bismarck, North Dakota for their annual competition that tests their levels of accomplishment against their peers.

The competitions for general knowledge, science and critical inquiry were serious business in which two teams of three to four students competed against each other. In a game show style, they used buzzers to indicate they would like to answer the presenter’s questions. The presenter kept a close eye on the audience to ensure no signs or information was passed along to contestants."

Get the Story:
Mary Annette Pember: Meeting of the Tribal Colleges (The Daily Yonder 5/13)

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