Are you able to help AIBL?

By Alyssa Kelly

It was a Wednesday evening and while most children who attended the basketball game were there to watch SKC play and relax after a long day of school, the AIBL members were working the concessions in hopes of raising money. The students began setting up for the game at 6 o’clock and most hadn’t left to go home until around 8:30 p.m.

“I’ve learned a lot about business and how good it is to be respectful,” Ashley Grandchamp, 7th grade, says of her time being involved in the AIBL program, “I joined because it seemed fun.”

The Ronan AIBL members meet weekly on Wednesdays to not only to plan their next fund raising event, but discuss business fundamentals and important values one must possess in order to succeed - not only in business, but in life.

A bit of AIBL history
The American Indian Business Leaders program emerged from Michelle Henderson’s (Assiniboine) master thesis, which expressed the critical need for business leaders in the Native community. “It is particularly interested in the intersection of Native cultural values and business practices, and hopes to improve economic conditions on Indian homelands through its student chapter, whose graduates take their skills back to reservations,” Henderson says of the overall goal of the program. The AIBL was organized on the U of M campus in January of 2004 with Henderson being it’s first executive director, as well as founder.

In 2004, Shelly Fyant attended an annual fundraising luncheon hosted by the AIBL program and they were asking for donations. Although she didn’t have any money to donate at that time, Fyant still felt passionate for the cause. “I graduated from the U of M in 1989 with a business degree, so it only seemed natural. I wanted to help in any way I could,” Fyant says. Fyant started the Ronan/Pablo K-8 AIBL Chapter in March of 2005 with 12 members. “We began with my boys and a few of their friends (all boys). Now, after three years, we have 22 members,” She adds. Aside from the program, Fyant has several other commitments in her life, including her job as a career development manager at Kicking Horse Job Corps. “These students that I work with are very spirited, positive, fun, energetic, and creative; that’s why I stick with it through our trials. These students will be successful and it means a lot to me to know that I had a part in that,” Fyant says.

This year's business goal
In 2004 the Arlee AIBL group members raised enough money to attend the annual AIBL conference, which was held in Seattle, Washington, at that time. Basil Tanner, a parent of one of the members, helped the group by personally driving them to Seattle. Throughout the conference, the students participated in several competitions including the business plan competition as well as the chapter of the year competition. The group actually won cash prizes up to $500. Although they enjoyed several guest speakers through out the conference, it was a special treat for the members to meet Native actor Adam Beach. Knowing how fortunate the experience of attending the conference had been for the Arlee group only gives the Ronan AIBL group more drive to succeed in attending these years’ conference.

The Ronan AIBL group has been working hard toward reaching their goal of raising an estimated $10,000 in order to attend the 13th Annual Leadership conference in Anaheim, California on April 12-14, 2007. The conference is national and will consist of several guest speakers on business as well as numerous competitions that take place between all AIBL members. While the students have managed to raise an estimated $8,345 through various fundraisers, including concessions, 50/50 raffles, Circle of Life bracelets, a sacred tobacco dance, bake sales, and numerous arts/crafts, they are still far from their goal. The registration deadline for the conference was March 2. The registration fee rose to $50 per student and advisor.

More than learning about running a business
“These kids have always been good students and they’ve all committed to being drug, tobacco and alcohol free, they’ve committed to keeping their culture alive, they’ve committed to staying in school, and they’re all committed to sharing their Native pride with the community,” Fyant says of the groups’ message and what they stand for. “The students came up with those commitments themselves,” she adds proudly.

The Ronan AIBL group members that have been working so hard are:

Tiana Antoine, Ashley Grandchamp, Jerod Tanner, Andrew Big Crane, Mariah Hamel, Marley Tanner, Victoria Brown, Dorsette Hendrickx, Mikailah Thompson, Lucke Butterfly, Tailyr Irvine, Alice Van Guten, Trevor Butterfly, Camas Mc Clure, Sierra Webster, Maria Charlo, Thomas Mc Clure, Kevin Wroblewski, Dusty Bull, Isiah Russell, Christen Falcon and Brianna Tanner

Jan Gardipe is also very involved in the group. She is a parent of the one of the members as well as an advisor. She became involved this past year and has been very active in the groups’ fundraising events.

Through the AIBL program, the students have learned business principles and customer service from their numerous fund raising events. “The students evaluate themselves after each event,” Fyant says. During one concession event, the students were faced with several obstacles including burnt popcorn, faulty pop machines, and impatient customers. “After that event, I asked the students: What have you learned? The students said they had learned it takes determination and hard work to reach a goal. They also learned that the customer is always right!”

“The way we stay connected to our commitments is through points that we earn,” Marley Tanner, 7th grade, says of the extra perks of being a group member and staying involved with the program. “We earn the points by our behavior during the meetings and signing up to help out with our fundraising events. For our points we’re given treats and rewards.”

Not all obstacles were financial
Aside from their fundraising efforts, the group has faced several obstacles on their journey towards meeting their goal. “It has been quite difficult for the AIBL program when it comes to working through the Ronan School system. The children involved with AIBL have learned values and in my opinion, it helps the students stay in school. Yet I still feel like we’ve faced a lot of resistance from the school.”

According to Fyant, the program had faced a lot of scrutiny from the Ronan district regarding their school club regulations. As a result, the Ronan AIBL group is a non-school affiliated program, (although all members are Ronan Middle/High School students.) Because the program is non-school affiliated, they have lost out on IAC funding to help the students with airfare costs. “In order to take school funding, we need a school advisor to be involved with our program,” Fyant explains. “I’ve asked some staff members that I feel comfortable with to help out and they weren’t able to participate due to the lack of payment for days missed from work. My main concern is that the school involvement will change what our AIBL group is or what it stands for, and that is one of the reasons I really don’t want their involvement. Despite the conflict with the school, I think we’ve done fine,” Fyant adds.

On March 6 Fyant, along with Joyce Silverthorn (Tribal education coordinator) and Angelique Albert (National AIBL director), attended a meeting held with the Ronan School board regarding the Ronan school club regulations and JOM grant money. They also faced conflict regarding the AIBL students attending the national conference.

Fyant expressed that, although the AIBL program is not school affiliated, the students should receive the grant money due the fact that the parent committee is the sole decision maker when it comes to the funding and that it has nothing to do with the Ronan school district. She also mentioned that the school should have no say in whether or not the students should be allowed to attend the conference because the parents gave the program permission to take their children.

After making her claims, the board agreed with Fyant and the AIBL group will receive an estimated $5,345 in JOM funding towards their trip.

Keeping the community involved
Although the students learned several lessons on business throughout their quest of reaching their goal, they still keep in touch with their Native values. “Aside from our own fund raising for our trip, we’ve helped out with other causes that were important to the students. We’ve raised money for Hurricane Katrina, the Thomas Lyles basketball courts in Arlee, and we just held a fund raiser for Krystal and Terry Pitts,” Fyant says of the groups’ various community involvement. “The students felt so strongly for the Thomas Lyles basketball courts because they knew him personally,” she adds. The group held an Indian taco feed, bake sales, 50/50 raffles, and a silent auction to raise money specifically for the purpose of helping Krystal and Terry Pitts with hospital bills. The couple, both instructors, fell victim to a horrible car accident this past year and the group was successful in raising an estimated $7,900 for the Pitts’ medical bills. “The students really felt it was important to help the Pitts’ family because like Thomas, the students know them personally.”

Through the Ronan AIBL groups’ ups and downs they still remain positive, “I really hope we reach our goal,” Fyant says, “I really, really hope we can do it. These kids have been working so hard. It’s important that we stay positive no matter what. It’s that positive attitude that has gotten us this far,” she adds.

In the near future, the AIBL group plans on asking for donations from various organizations, but community donations are always appreciated. For more information on the American Indian Business Leaders program, as well as their conference, you can go to their web site at: www.aibl.org. If you would like to make donations, you can contact Shelly Fyant via cell phone: 1-(406)-546-5633 or through the groups’ account with Ronan State Bank.