BOZEMAN, Mont. – A group of American Indian students at Montana State University have launched an organization that is working to build leadership skills and promote global cultural exchange among indigenous youth.

The Buffalo Nations International Indigenous Leadership Institute was created last year on the premise that Indian country is in desperate need, and according to the group’s founder and president, Shane Doyle, students at MSU have the opportunity to make a difference.

The group promotes leadership by example, and one of their initiatives is to hold half-marathons on all seven Montana reservations this summer. “We are trying to promote health and the idea that health is a part of leadership. It is a holistic package. We are representing our tribes and communities and taking control of our destinies through the 21st century.” The institute has been working with tribal colleges throughout the state to create a network of distance runners and leaders.

The 13.2 mile runs will begin April 3 at the MSU-Bozeman annual pow wow. The seven subsequent runs will take place: June 20 in Frazer at the Red Bottom Pow wow; June 27 in Crow Agency at the Crow Native Days celebration; July 4 in Lame Deer at its annual 4th of July Pow wow; July 11 in Browning during the Browning Indian Days; July 18 in Elmo at the Standing Arrow Pow wow; July 25 in Fort Belknap at the Milk River Indian Days; and Aug. 1 in Rocky Boy at the Rocky Boy Pow wow.

Photo courtesy Megkian Doyle Last year’s half-marathon winner in Bozeman during the annual pow wow was Wolfy Real Bird, seen here with the Bridger mountains in the background.

“The institute is funded by students who become members,” Doyle said. “The initial fundraising and awareness effort for the institute will focus on the half-marathon runs. The $10 entry fees and individual sponsorships will be used by the institute to sponsor leadership forums, guest speakers and conferences.”

The name Buffalo Nations was chosen, according to Doyle, because most indigenous students attending MSU are plains Indians. “When I was little my father told me that when the winds start to blow and the bad weather comes, the buffalo turn their heads right into it. They always point their nose towards the obstacle they are facing. That is the way we are taught to live our lives, when there is a problem or issues that are formidable – don’t turn away, face it and get through it.”

The group has 26 members, including Angie Howe, former president of the MSU American Indian Council; Wasewi Shawl, a distance runner and champion fancy dancer; and Josh Mori, a Hawaiian Native working toward his master’s degree in Native American studies and an adjunct professor at MSU.

The group is also promoting international cultural exchange on campus by hosting weekly fundraising luncheons and inviting students from international groups to attend. “I feel strongly about Montana Indians making international connections,” Doyle said. The luncheons are held in the American Indian council room every Monday and serve indigenous foods using ingredients that were used by their ancestors in the late 1400s.

Most of the American Indian students on the MSU campus, according to Doyle, plan to return to their reservations after graduation. “Typically we are told we have to wait to get our degrees to go back home and work. It occurred to me, why should we wait? We should seize the moment and do what we can to provide some leadership through action.”

Another goal the group hopes to see fulfilled in the near future is to sponsor at least one American Indian student from Montana in an overseas cultural exchange, possibly with the Maori people of New Zealand. “The idea for 21st century leadership is that we need to get out and look at the world. Montana Indians normally don’t travel very far away from home,” he said.

The group picked the two goals they felt could be successfully accomplished and have the greatest impact – marathons and cultural exchanges.

However, there are other initiatives in the planning stages they hope to be able to address in the future. According to Doyle, there is a housing crisis on Montana reservations. To address that the group would like to promote economic leadership through environmentally sound, green building practices. “As Indian people we come from a tradition of sustainability and respect for our environment. We are thinking big, we have been thinking small for too long. It is time for us to take our future back,” he said. “There is a place for Indians in the 21st century and that place is in the lead.”

Photo courtsey Shane Doyle Angie Howe and Shane Doyle at the Clinton Global Initiative University last year in Austin, Texas Feb. 14 at the Austin Convention Center. Both are looking forward to attending this year’s CGI-U in Miami.

Doyle said some of his inspiration came from watching President Clinton on TV last year asking people to make a commitment to their communities. “I wrote to the Clinton Global Initiative and told them about our group making a commitment with the half marathons. They wrote back saying they wanted to share what we were doing at their meeting last year in Austin, Texas. There were thousands of college students there who had made commitments to their communities; it was great to be a part of that.”

This April the group will be traveling to the University of Miami for the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative to give an update on their accomplishments and highlight plans for future goals.

“Our group believes that we can achieve great things with our own two feet and our hearts. We hope that if we can be successful, achieve our goals and continue to grow that people will take notice. Maybe one day soon the MSU Indian student center that was put on a back burner due to lack of funding will be built – for indigenous peoples from all over the world,” Doyle said.

Doyle holds a master’s degree in Native American studies and will soon graduate with a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. “The focus of my studies the past several years has been the integration of American Indian content into the mainstream curriculum. I would like to continue on that path and bring light to some things in history that are overlooked.

“As America celebrates its first African-American president, the Buffalo Nations International Indigenous Leadership Institute will underscore the need to be working towards the day we will celebrate the first American Indian president. And we expect that person to come from a Montana Indian reservation.”

For more information contact buffalonations@gmail.com.