Fort Peck Community College Receives Grant To Promote Teachers

The Fort Peck Community College recently received a grant that will continue to encourage students to pursue a career in education.

A $1,570,560 grant has been awarded to the college from the Department of Education’s Indian Education Professional Development Program. The grant covers five years and provides funding for three years of teacher training to 15 students.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to get this grant since, I want to say, the early 1990s,” Craig Smith, president of the Fort Peck Community College, said. “It allows us to educate and train elementary education teachers.”

Through a partnership with Montana State University - Northern, students attend classes at FPCC for the first two years and then earn their bachelors degree through MSU - Northern. Smith said the classes through Northern are virtual and some students only need to travel to Havre about twice.

The grant helps pick up education expenses and provides a monthly stipend so the college students can focus on their education.

“Our goal is to enroll 15 or more students,” Sierra Atkinson, director of the teachers training program at FPCC, said about the program. “We usually have a pretty good enrollment. There’s quite a bit of teachers right now that were students in the program.”

Smith estimates the program has provided between 200-300 teachers for the reservation’s public schools.

“We’re very proud when we look at the program,” Smith said. “We’ve definitely supplied a large amount of teachers on the reservation.”

One of those teachers is Dusti Marottek who is in first year of instructing third-grade students in Poplar.

“It definitely has helped me as far as funds,” Marottek said.

She explained the grant paid for most of her college expenses including staying in Havre’s dorms for one year. She added the program led her to develop connections.

Smith noted that many of the students stay in the area to teach because they are local students.

“It felt good to be close to here and have the support of family and everybody else,” Marottek said.

Atkinson tells the experience of one student who will graduate with a bachelors degree in education next May. The student didn’t even have her high school degree before getting connected with the program. Since then, she earned her associates degree from FPCC and has done well in on-line classes.

Although there have been a good amount of Poplar students involved with the program, Atkinson said she would like to see more students come from other surrounding schools as well.

Officials from the college are having conversations with Montana State University Bozeman regarding offering a similar program for secondary education. Students would attend FPCC for two years and then take virtual courses through Bozeman.

The purposes of the Indian Education Professional Development Grants Program are to increase the number of qualified Indian individuals in professions that serve Indians; and to provide training to qualified Indian individuals to become teachers and administrators.

Smith said FPCC’s largest interest of studies include education, pre-nursing and business besides vocational programs.