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November 22, 2002
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“I had always considered college for ‘other people,’” recalls Melanie Benjamin. “The way we promote education today was never done for Indian people when I was a teen.” As a high school dropout, Benjamin had married young and then became a widow at 23. A single parent, she had tucked the thought of going to college in the back of her mind. Now 46, Benjamin is the elected chief executive for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, responsible for governing all aspects of reservation life, including legal issues, business ventures, health care, education, job training and employment, and preserving cultural traditions and language. College education has been her gateway to opportunity. “Power is found in knowledge, being educated to understand why we do the things the way we do,” Benjamin said. Her journey of accomplishment includes earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bemidji State University, one of the 34 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and studying tribal governance and natural resources at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. Benjamin was the fifth-oldest of 12 siblings and the first to attend college. Born in Siren, Wis., she grew up in St. Louis as a result of a federal government program that relocated Indian families from the reservation to urban areas to promote assimilation into white society. Her family eventually moved to Minneapolis, and while she worked for an apron factory she learned about a scholarship program through the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. With the scholarship, she was able to enroll in a clerical program at what is now Minneapolis Community and Technical College, another of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. She graduated in 1979 and was hired as a secretary-receptionist by the Metropolitan Economic Development Association, an organization that works with minority communities on business development. “They promoted education to the staff,” Benjamin said. “Nancy Glassman, one of the managers at MEDA, encouraged me to pursue more training.” After a year, Benjamin returned to the reservation and went to work for the Sandstone school district. Soon, aspiring to do great things to help her people face the challenges of the 21st century, she made a pact with a brother that they both would go to college and they picked Bemidji. He enrolled at what is now the Northwest Technical College campus, also part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. She enrolled at Bemidji State University in business, influenced by her experience working at MEDA. With her son entering kindergarten, Benjamin scheduled classes in the morning and studied whenever there was a moment – at lunch, in the afternoon and between dinner and putting her son to bed. The campus Council of Indian Students and its director, Don Day, played a strong supportive role for her and other American Indian students. She embraced an Ojibwe language class, taught by Earl Nystrom, and got involved in cultural activities. Benjamin graduated in 1988 with a degree in business administration. Since then, her career path has focused on the American Indian community. She worked as the assistant library services director for Nay Ah Shing schools, emphasizing literacy. She served as business development specialist and assistant program director the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s Indian Business Development Center, emphasizing innovation and entrepreneurship. She has been a management and marketing consultant to businesses owned by the Mille Lacs Band and band members. As a college instructor for the Indian Support Services Department at Itasca Community College, also one of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, she relished her job of mentoring and helping develop future leaders. Her leadership ability was recognized quickly. She was appointed commissioner of administration for Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwa in 1989-1997, serving as chief of staff and assuming responsibility for daily operations of tribal government. She had a one-year special assignment to serve as senior vice president at Grand Casino Hinckley, supervising the casino’s finance, security and human resources. In June 2000, she was elected chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. She sees education as central to her agenda as the tribal chairperson of more than 2,800 enrolled members based in Onamia, Minn. “One day we can then be self-sufficient, we can be educated, we can bring ourselves out of poverty, we can have a safe environment to raise our families and we can protect our culture,” she said. Benjamin is about to launch a Youth Tribal Council initiative to mirror the process of the traditional council, complete with filing for office, debates and elections. The council will provide opportunities to promote education and professional development, she said. “All tribes offer scholarship programs, and with federal Pell grants and state programs, college can be affordable,” she said. “As long as you put in studying time and pay attention, college is very manageable.” Active in many arenas, she serves as a member of the Bemidji State University Alumni Board of Directors and has been elected secretary for the National Indian Gaming Association and treasurer for the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association. She also has served on the boards of directors of the Minnesota Indian Education Association and Anishinabeg Legal Services. “Education starts to cure those barriers that face our people – school dropout rates, teen pregnancy, chemical dependency, unemployment, racism and oppression,” Benjamin said. “It provides an opportunity to establish relationships with non-Indian decision-makers…and credentials to secure better-paying jobs, assume more responsibility for your and other’s lives, economics and build a better life for you and your family.” |
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