Coby John Stump of Stone Child College

Coby John Stump is from Parker School, Montana, and was raised by his grandmother Louise Windy Boy Stump, who was a fluent Cree-speaking teacher. Coby is an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Poplar, Montana. His major is in natural resources with an art minor. He graduated high school 23 years ago from Rocky Boy High School. Shortly thereafter, he left for navy boot camp in Chicago, Illinois and later attended aviation school in Pensacola, Florida, before going to the naval air station in San Diego, California. He now serves as honor guard and color guard for Post 67 in Rocky Boy, now known as Great Plains Veterans Services Center.

Coby’s education is important to him now more than ever, because he started an internship over the summer with hydroponics working under Tracy Tyner. He has worked with NEXUS and Stone Child College along with Oregon State University. Coby loves the fact that we can grow food straight from water along with nutrients. He says, “I hopped on the internship by mere fluke of just getting out of the house because I’ve been inside healing from open heart surgery and not being able to eat any greens because of my blood thinners,” adding, “I believe we can show the youth and the farmers that not only can we preserve our culture and traditions by moving into the future with what technology can bring through generations in education now and show that they can be more then capable of doing more as technology advances to better help reservations.”