Edward and Alyssa Vizenor or Red Lake Nation College

Edward Vizenor promised his mother around 30 years ago that he’d go back to school, but he didn’t feel like it was ever possible with a busy life, kids to raise, and bills to pay. Edward was just minding his own business when he and his daughter Alyssa went to a powwow in Red Lake in 2021. There, they met the Red Lake Nation College dean of students, Dewey Fairbanks. Fairbanks had a booth to advertise RLNC at the powwow and he was trying to convince Edward to return to college. After being handed a folder of information about RLNC, Edward began thinking about it. His children were grown, all the bills were paid, and he could afford it. He figured he was out of excuses, so he decided to go for it and register.

After Edward lost his job in 2020 due to COVID-19 and Alyssa struggled with her previous colleges, the father-daughter duo decided it was the perfect time to attend RLNC together. They figured they could help motivate each other and Edward could keep his promise to his mother. Their unique college journey led to success when they both did what they had dreamed of: graduating from RLNC together in the spring of 2025.

It took Alyssa a bit to commit to school again after not having a positive experience with mainstream colleges in the past, where she had failed and dropped out about three times. However, after her father’s convincing, she decided to give college one last try and enrolled at RLNC. Alyssa enjoyed attending the circle at the faculty and Native directions class. She enjoyed learning more about her culture and the culture of the Red Lake Nation. She is a jingle dress dancer and of Red Lake descent. She said that the Ojibwe language was a “dying language” and wanted to learn it. She wants the language to thrive. The jingle dress dance was done to heal, and being a jingle dancer is how she shows her cultural meaning and believes in it. She is proud of her Native roots and loved RLNC because it helped her learn more. Alyssa wants to further her education and culture.

RLNC gave the duo a chance to succeed, and now they are willing to give back. Edward wants to better his community by working in corrections and hopes to transfer into the law enforcement program to become a Red Lake Nation Police officer in order to give back to the community. Alyssa plans to continue school to learn about her Native culture. She wants to get involved with cultural events and language groups. She plans to take classes part time at RLNC. She wants to continue school, going to the University of Minnesota or the University of Wisconsin and focusing on social work, child psych, and Native studies.