• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Minnesota Native News

Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations

Header Left

  • Programs
    • MN Native News
    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
    • Community Health Conversations
      • COVID-19
      • Helpful Links about COVID19 in Minnesota
    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
  • About Us

Header Right

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Header Left

  • Programs
    • MN Native News
    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
    • Community Health Conversations
      • COVID-19
      • Helpful Links about COVID19 in Minnesota
    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
  • About Us

Header Right

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Programs
    • MN Native News
    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
    • Community Health Conversations
      • COVID-19
      • Helpful Links about COVID19 in Minnesota
    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
  • About Us
  • Programs
    • MN Native News
    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
    • Community Health Conversations
      • COVID-19
      • Helpful Links about COVID19 in Minnesota
    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
  • About Us

MN Native News – Sweetgrass Planting with Indigenous Learning Community

MN Native News October 12, 2023

BearPaw Shields, Director of SCSU’s Indigenous Learning Community, with Aria, a student at SCSU, taken during the sweetgrass planting event. Photo Credit: BearPaw Shields
Sherburne County partnered with St. Cloud State University to offer a chance for Indigenous students to connect with both the land and their heritage. Reporter Chandra Colvin has the story.

CHANDRA COLVIN: In late September, indigenous students had the chance to connect to mother earth by planting sweetgrass at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. These students are a part of a new program through the St. Cloud State University American Indian Center. This program is known as the Indigenous Learning Community or the ILC. Coordinator Bearpaw Shields, who is both Dakota and Nakota, explains:

BEARPAW SHIELDS: The Indigenous Learning Community was created – this unique program that is grant funded. And it was designed to help, recruit, retain, and graduate our indigenous students. And so part of my role, as well, is to help mentor the students, and to help them succeed through the college role here at St. Cloud State University. 

Because a lot of times we get first time students, and it’s really scary. They don’t know a lot about college life. And I want to really help them stay on track, because it’s so easy to fall into the wrong crowd. And then, they don’t end up graduating. So I’m serving here as a mentor, and as a guide, basically a guide, if you want to put it that way.

CHANDRA COLVIN: The ILC provides experiences to indigenous students both inside and outside of the classroom. Students can take culturally relevant classes as a cohort and spend time together in the American Indian Center on campus studying. Bearpaw Shields coordinated the sweet grass planting with Sherburne County’s Park Director.  

GINA HUGO: I’m Gina Hugo. I’m the parks director for Sherburne County. And we’re here at the Big Elk Lake Parkland, where we have been working with several Minnesota tribal communities on a cultural landscape co management vision for a sacred landscape that’s in county stewardship right now. And today, we’re out with some amazing St. Cloud State students to expand a sweet grass meadow on the landscape. 

CHANDRA COLVIN: Bearpaw Shields explains how this partnership came to be. 

BEARPAW SHIELDS: I first met her probably about a few years ago. I was introduced to her because she was working on this property that we planted the sweet grass on. And she wasn’t educated on American Indians. And so I took her underneath my wing, and educated her. And so she you know, talking to her about how there’s not a lot of places for our people to whether it’s harvest sweet grass, or sage or chokecherries or elderberries, things that are people traditionally used as medicines and for ceremonies. And so she then decided, you know what, I think this would be a great idea for this when they’re going to do the park to have the sweet grass. So then our generations can come and harvest sweet grass, and so we can continue to use the medicines that our people have done for many years.

CHANDRA COLVIN: Aria, a part of the Red Lake Tribe is a second-year medical laboratory science student. They share their experience on this opportunity: 

ARIA: I decided to come here to kind of connect closer with my culture. I think that being able to plant sweet grass in itself is an amazing experience. And I feel like a lot of Native Americans should be able to have that experience to connect closer with their culture and be able to grow closer as a community in general.

CHANDRA COLVIN: This is the first of several activities that the Indigenous Learning Community students at St. Cloud State University will experience this year. Planned activities include traditional crafts, such as ribbon skirt and shirt making, as well as visits from an Ojibwe elder. For Minnesota Native News, this is Chandra Colvin. 

More from Native Lights

  • Dan Ninham: Honoring Athletes and Indigenous Sports Traditions
    In this episode, we speak with Dan Ninham, PhD, a retired physical education teacher and coach, co-founder of the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame and prolific freelance writer.
  • BearPaw Shields: Leaving a Legacy for Future Generations
    In this episode, we speak with BearPaw Shields from the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. She is a Saint Cloud State University alumna and is currently the Indigenous Learning Community Program Coordinator at the University’s American Indian Center. In her forties, she decided to go to college and get a degree so that she could make the change she wanted to see in the world. She does that now through her work at St. Cloud State’s American Indian Center, helping Native students to succeed in school and connect with their culture through language, field trips and other experiences. As a board member with the Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, she had been instrumental in teaching park staff and visitors about the land’s Native history. Last year, that included the opening of an amphitheater with art provided by Indigenous artists and the names of park animals provided in Dakota and Ojibwemowin. BearPaw Shields lives in Zimmerman where she likes to go on hikes and find her serenity at the nearby Refuge.
  • Allison Waukau: Empowering Native Stories Through Community Service and Podcasting
    In this episode, we speak with Allison Waukau (Menominee/Navajo), who serves as the Tribal Liaison and Native Relations Coordinator at the Metropolitan Council. She previously worked at the Hennepin County Library and the Roseville School District as American Indian Community Liaison. Last year, she started a new podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger. Through “Books Are Good Medicine,” the co-hosts explore Native literature with the aim of increasing the knowledge of educators and libraries about Native American books and materials. Allison Waukau lives in Minneapolis with her family, including a young son, and had a dream come true recently when she was selected to participate in Cohort 14 of the Native Governance Center’s Rebuilder Program. Allison’s podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger can be found at Books Are Good Medicine.

Subscribe to Minnesota Native News in your favorite podcast app

Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsRadio Public


  • Tribal Energy Evolution Summit Comes to St. Paul, MN Tribal Nations Call for Unity
    This week on Minnesota Native News, the third annual Tribal Energy Evolution Summit brings over 70 Indigenous nations to St. Paul, and leaders from 11 Minnesota tribes call for unity and action following recent neighborhood violence impacting the Little Earth community.
  • MMIW Awareness Day is May 5th, and Pow Wow Season Guidance for Visitors
    May 5th is MMIW Awareness Day — a day to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people, with events statewide. Plus, pow wow season kicks off in Spring, and pow wow planners provide guidance, especially for those new to attending these events.
Previous Post: « Adrienne Zimiga-January: Bringing more Native Voices to Theaters
Next Post: Ernest Briggs: A Journey in Acting and Empowering Indigenous Artists »

Site Footer

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsRadio Public

Copyright © 2025 Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations. All rights reserved. | Site Design by Flying Orange.
Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage FundFunding for Minnesota Native News and Native Lights is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.