I strongly believe that music is Indigenous peoples form of literature. Music has been our way of healing, coping through grief and trauma, ceremony and prayer, courtship, documenting histories and preserving sacred stories. From this, I also believe that music in its contemporary form could be what saves and revitalizes endangered Indigenous languages and cultures. This concept combined with witnessing the cross culture/foreign languages trending surge in the music industry, made me want to pursue work in the music industry to preserve and revitalize my critically endangered Indigenous Language. Hinikaragi, Boozhoo, My name is Tyler LaMere. My Indigenous Ho-Chunk name is "Hucpi" which means "Good Bear", I was born, raised and enrolled in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, however I also belong to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe people. I am attending University of South Dakota in a double degree program studying Music Industry with an emphasis in Business and Native American Studies with an emphasis in Language. I want to be able and already have been working to apply Indigenous Languages and cultures into contemporary forms and compositions of music. One of the artists and audio engineers I looked up to the most throughout my adolescent has now become a music industry mentor to me, Frank Waln. I first came across him when my mom started noticing I had a passion for music producing and songwriting, but felt disempowered because Native American artists were almost unheard of in today's music industry. She started searching for Native Artists to motivate me and found him. He is from the Rosebud reservation and attended Columbia College Chicago studying Music Business where he then became a successful independent Native hip hop musician. I immediately became fascinated with how successful he became despite growing up on a native reservation much like I did. Our paths have crossed since and he and his family have been incredible mentors and guides through my college and career journey in music. I want to impact and completely change the music industry by propelling Indigenous artists to have more accessibility to music industry opportunities, Generating awareness about Indigenous cultures, languages and music and to inspire those a part of endangered cultures and spoken languages to find creative and innovative ways and niches to revitalize and preserve their languages and cultures. I strongly believe that many Indigenous people have so much potential to be ground breaking music artists, but feel disempowered or lack the access to music industry/education opportunities. I want to find ways to showcase that not just that we are still here as Indigenous people, but also as artisians, storytellers and creators. Rather than myself being what people remember, I want the work I do to be the thing that sticks with people. I strongly believe that my pursuits in music are far bigger than myself. I want the thing I accomplish to send ripples across those who are a part of endangered cultures and languages to be inspired and motivated to find creative and innovative ways to preserve and revitalize their languages and cultures.

Hinikaragi, Boozhoo, My name is Tyler LaMere. My Indigenous Ho-Chunk name is "Hucpi" which means "Good Bear." I am attending University of South Dakota in a double degree program studying Music Industry with an emphasis in Business and Native American Studies with an emphasis in Language. I want to work in A&R as a sound engineer while composing my own music in DAWs. I strongly believe that music is Indigenous peoples form of literature. Music has been our way of healing, coping through grief and trauma, ceremony and prayer, courtship, documenting histories and preserving sacred stories. From this, I also believe that music in its contemporary form could be what saves and revitalizes endangered Indigenous languages and cultures. This concept combined with witnessing the cross culture/foreign languages trending surge in the music industry, made me want to pursue work in the music industry to preserve my critically endangered Indigenous Language. One of the artists and audio engineers I looked up to the most throughout my adolescent has now become a music industry mentor to me, Frank Waln. I first came across him when my mom started noticing I had a passion for music producing and songwriting, but felt disempowered because Native American artists were almost unheard of in today's music industry. She started searching for Native Artists to motivate me and found him. He is from the Rosebud reservation and attended Columbia College Chicago studying Music Business where he then became a successful independent Native hip hop musician. I immediately became fascinated with how successful he became despite growing up on a native reservation much like I did. Our paths have crossed since and he and his family have been incredible mentors and guides through my college and career journey in music. I want to impact the music industry by propelling Indigenous artists to have more accessibility to music industry opportunities, Generating awareness about Indigenous cultures, languages and music and to inspire those a part of endangered cultures and spoken languages to find creative and innovative ways and niches to revitalize and preserve their languages and cultures. I strongly believe that many Indigenous people have so much potential to be ground breaking music artists, but feel disempowered or lack the access to music industry/education opportunities. Rather than myself being what people remember, I want the work I do to be the thing that sticks with people. I strongly believe that my pursuits in music are far bigger than myself. I want the thing I accomplish to send ripples across those who are a part of endangered cultures and languages to be inspired and motivated to find creative and innovative ways to preserve and revitalize their languages and cultures.

I strongly believe that music is far more than just an art for us as Native American people, I believe that music is the foundation for literature for us as Indigenous people. By this understanding, I know that music is how we can save endangered Indigenous languages and cultures. I had a passion for music ever since I was a child. However, born and raised on a Native American reservation, I struggled with accessibility in music education and access to music equipment. The nearest music store is 30 minutes away from my reservation and the extent of the music industry I was exposed to was media I witnessed online. When I started entering my adolescent years, I would research anywhere I could online to try and learn about everything regarding writing and producing music myself. I started practicing all the time, playing on my guitar, recording and mixing tracks on garageband on my ipad, playing piano, self-studying music theory, writing lyrics. As I started figuring out what path I wanted to take in my life, I noticed how songs from foreign countries that shared little English language were starting to become popular in the United States and would appear on the radio. I started to wonder if I could utilize my passion for music and music production to help preserve and revitalize my critically endangered Indigenous Ho-Chunk language. When I entered my college years, I knew music technology was what I wanted to pursue and declared it as my major. To this day, I strongly believe that pursuing music in contemporary contexts is a step in the right direction to preserve our endangered languages. However, when I entered college in music technology, I felt like a fish out of water. I felt like I was the only student in my class who did not have any prior experience with higher end music production equipment. Everyone else was able to have their own at home studio while I working with my ipad on garageband was the extent of my hands on experience with music production. Instead of wallowing in my hopelessness and insecurity, I decided to spend my extra hours outside of class to practice every DAW system and what we studied in classes in the music school's computer lab to catch up to my peers. As time went on, I started to excel in the music production courses that I feared I would fall behind in. However, outside of my classes I faced a large amount of racial discrimination for being Native American by my roommates. I tried to power through and brush it off, but one night my roommates brought some of their friends and relatives over and attacked me. I was able to narrowly escape and reported the incident to the University. However, the process was slow and I ended up sleeping and living out of my car for the rest of the semester while still determined to make it to all of my classes. After the semester ended, I transferred out of that school and into the one I am attending now where I am pursuing a double degree program in Indigenous Language Studies and Music Industry. I am determined to make a positive path not just for my Indigenous community, but all other Indigenous communities and musicians as well.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

One thing I am committed wholeheartedly onto building upon is my tribal community’s strength in their Indigenous Language and Cultural knowledge as well as my own. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Business. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. My passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies and saving my language instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

This portrait is titled “Hųųkxųnųga” or “Chief Little Priest” in english translation from my indigenous hoocąk language. Chief Little Priest was the Winnebago Tribe’s, My tribal nation’s, last war chief. We as Winnebago people were known as one of the fiercest war tribes in the woodlands and plains regions next to the Lakota tribal people. I spent close to 75+ hours on this piece. Connecting my genealogy and collecting pieces of my family history back on winter break last year, I found that I have been a close relative to our tribe’s last great war chief. I’m his direct great, great grandchild and descendant. In a spiritual and emotional effort to connect with him and feel grounded in my family line and tribal lineage. I decided to dedicate a huge portion of my time and skills in art to him, I created this piece incorporating acrylic paint, ink, and beads to complete this portrait of him. The vibrant blue background is to symbolize the color of our tribal flag and to represent the body of water our tribe is named after, the Hoocak Niisoc eja people. This translates to the hoocak people that live next to the Missouri River. The Applique design on the left side of the portrait symbolizes the way Winnebago Hoocak people were able to identify each other and their family lines by creating a signature crest incorporating florals and traditional hoocak indigenous foods into artistic designs. These artistic designs were also incorporated into contrasting colors on each side of the piece whether it was placed on fabric or painted on like I did in this piece. The right side symbolizes the bear paw, which is our family line that Chief Little Priest and I both belong to, the bear clan people. Chief Little Priest was also rumored in the Winnebago Hoocak tribe to “fight like a grizzly bear” in how fearsome he was in battle. This bear paw is both a symbolism to mine and his bear clan family lines, but also a nod to his fighting and war capabilities. The rest of him and the portrait is beaded entirely. I beaded the canvas with a variety of beads. I blended the use of ToHo, Miyuki, small plastic bone beads and czech style beads. The color pattern of the beads is based off of the infamous black and white portrait taken of him that is placed everywhere in the town of Winnebago. The small plastic bone beads were used for his necklace as those were to symbolize the real animal bones used to create his necklace. The miyuki and toho beads were used to create more intricate parts of the piece, such as the otter hat, as they are more precisely cut and uniform beads.

Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

“Be Strong and Educate my children.” are the last words of my great grandfather and my tribe, the Winnebago Tribe’s last great war chief, Chief Little Priest/Chief Young Prophet. These words have followed me throughout my entire life and have intertwined with my own goals, mission and drive for my career and pursuit of higher education. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation. Growing up, my passion has always been two things, my indigenous language and culture, as well as my passion for writing and playing music. However, my Hoocak language is incredibly endangered and on the precipice of extinction in the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Historically, music has been Indigenous peoples of the America’s form of literature. Songs and music were not forms of leisure and entertainment for us, but forms of documenting our history, key events in our tribe, mourning and honoring those who moved onto the spirit world, songs composed in forms of healing and war powers. In my tribe, writing songs were also essential to courtship and marriage proposals. Music is the foundation of the very existence of what it means to be Native American. In my own personal philosophy, music is the literature of Indigenous people. In Western contexts, language is what is the foundation of literature in academia. Since 2022, when I was 18 years old, I started assisting my mom in her dual language classroom teaching all of the elementary subjects incorporating Winnebago Hoocak language and culture into her lessons. This is when I started to become a Hoocak language apprentice. At 19 years old I have discovered that blending my indigenous teachings, culture, tradition, and indigenous language into songs that I have been writing as a hobby is in my belief, the best way to preserve our language and to get tribal people inspired and passionate about learning their own language. My goal is to incorporate Indigenous language preservation and revitalization work and pedagogy into my passion for music and audio engineering. This is why I plan to pursue a dual degree program in Native American Language Studies and Music Industry. However, my goal has heavy obstacles of financial strain blocking my path to success as a college student. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we were not able to have access to food. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from this scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree, and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you for your time and consideration, Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Hinikaragi, Boozhoo, My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation in Minnesota. I am currently finished with my second year at Little Priest Tribal College on the reservation that I grew up on and am now transferring to the University of Nebraska Omaha to study Music Technology. My first concert memory was the first Native American band I saw growing up, Brule. They performed all across the midwest and continue to do so. During a local festival when I was about 6 years old, they were invited to perform. It was so shocking to me, even so young, that there were people who looked like me performing music on stage in front of a huge crowd of people. At that point in time, Mo Brings Plenty was performing as a band member in Brule. I got to meet him after the show and several times at following concerts. The first time we met, he engaged 6 year old me in conversation, gave me a hug and took a photo with me showing off our matching braids. I still treasure both that memory and the photo itself. My favorite concert memory was the time I saw the Indigenous music artist who inspired me to pursue music in the first place, Frank Waln. I saw him play at an Indigenous music festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in July of 2023. Seeing him perform hip hop music with the blend of his Lakota language with the Indigenous instruments we both grew up with while his friends performed powwow fancy dance choreography on stage beside him was awe inspiring to me. He has been my inspiration for years and I will always continue to support him and his endeavors. Attached below in my application is a photo of that night I cherish. I have been studying and researching through his documents and materials to learn as much as I can independently and have been creating and writing songs and poetry in my Indigenous language. I would love to be like one of the amazing and talented Indigenous music artists I grew up admiring and looking up to for guidance and inspiration. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from the Live Music Lover scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you so much for your time. Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Hinikaragi, Boozhoo, Greetings to whom this may concern. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised by a single mother in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation in Minnesota. I am currently finished with my second year at Little Priest Tribal College on the reservation that I grew up on and am now transferring to the University of Nebraska Omaha to study Music Technology. Music has been my passion ever since I was a child playing and creating music with my grandfather and uncle. I have fallen in love with numerous instruments over the years, first picking up the piano, then the guitar, the violin, the ukulele, both the contemporary band/orchestral, the traditional Hocak Winnebago flute made from cedar wood, and finally, my voice. There is not a day in my life where I haven't surrounded myself with music whether it be listening to the songs and artists I love or playing and creating music by myself. My mom is my biggest inspiration and the one person who pushed me to pursue my dreams in music. She decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we weren't able to have access to food or water. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. My goal is to create modern music that incorporates my indigenous language and culture as an act of preservation and revitalization using artistic media. My language, the Hocak Winnebago language, is in a critical state as our last fluent speaker who was actively teaching passed on in March of this year. There have been few efforts from my tribe to try and work towards language and culture preservation and revitalization despite there being constant funding towards the language and culture preservation program in my tribe. I have confidence in my skill and ability to write and create music, but I have no recording equipment or knowledge on the subject. This is why I am planning to pursue Music Technology at the University of Omaha. Throughout my adolescent years, I have seen so much gravitation from the general public's interest in music towards those of languages separate from their own. Specifically, I have seen so many Indigenous artists become successful in their work for creating music and having a music career. My grandfather founded the language and culture preservation program in my tribal nation. My mom and I have been studying and researching through his documents and materials to learn as much as we can independently and I have been creating and writing songs and poetry in my Indigenous language. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from the Diane Amendt Memorial Scholarship for the Arts as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you so much for your time. Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Hinikaragi, Boozhoo. My name is Tyler LaMere, and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation in Minnesota. I am currently finished with my second year at Little Priest Tribal College on the reservation that I grew up on and am now transferring to the University of Nebraska Omaha to study Music Technology. Mental health and mental-emotional balance is incredibly important to me, as I have struggled with coping with my own mental health and wellbeing throughout my life. Being a Native American born and raised on an Indigenous reservation in the rural Midwest has presented numerous challenges for my mother and I. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women's and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we weren't able to have access to food. My rough beginnings in my childhood had impacted me so severely growing up, I developed CPTSD and panic disorder. Later on in my journey of mental health balance and wellbeing, I had also gotten diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, which was intensified with Endometriosis. My mom made the important and life-altering decision for the better to put me into therapy at 7 years old. I spent most of my adolescent years going to therapy and I still do. Therapy has provided me the mental and emotional skills I need in order to function and live a healthy and happy life with my diagnosis. Not because of what I experience/experienced or in spite of it, to be in denial or to live in the concept of ones mental health and wellbeing is to live unbalanced. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from the Mental Health importance scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you so much for your time. Pinagigi, Miigwech.

Hinikaragi, Boozhoo, Greetings to whom this may concern. My name is Tyler LaMere and I was born and raised in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on the Winnebago reservation, However, I also belong to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe nation in Minnesota. I am currently finished with my second year at Little Priest Tribal College on the reservation that I grew up on and am now transferring to University of Nebraska Omaha to study Music. Being a Native American born and raised on an Indigenous reservation in the rural Midwest has presented numerous challenges for my mother and I. Growing up, my mom did her best to escape from my abusive father. Whenever we tried to flee to women and children's shelters in a nearby city, they would throw intense discrimination and stereotypes towards us for being Indigenous. The same would happen with the numerous times we attempted to report my father to the non-indigenous police, this was my first encounter with racism in my life. Even now, numerous Indigenous women encountering violence are being swept under the rug through systemic racism. After finally being able to escape from my father after 11 years, my mom decided to try to go back to school while working and raising me to try to give me a better life. We had struggled financially so much during this time, there were many times we weren't able to have access to food or plumbing. I had to switch colleges of choice numerous times due to the lack of affordable education as a Native American raised by a single mother on a reservation. My goal is to create modern music that incorporates my indigenous language and culture as an act of preservation and revitalization using artistic media. My language, the hocak winnebago language, is in a critical state as our last fluent speaker that was actively teaching passed on in March of this year. There have been few efforts from my tribe to try and work towards language and culture preservation and revitalization despite there being constant funding towards the language and culture preservation program in my tribe. I have confidence in my skill and ability to write and create music, but I have no recording equipment or knowledge on the subject. This is why I am planning to pursue Music Technology at the University of Omaha. Throughout my adolescent years, I have seen so much gravitation from the general public's interest in music towards those of languages separate from their own. Specifically, I have seen so many Indigenous artists become successful in their work for creating music and having a music career. My grandfather founded the language and culture preservation program in my tribal nation and I have been studying and researching through his documents and materials to learn as much as I can independently and have been creating and writing songs and poetry in my Indigenous language. I would be incredibly grateful to receive such a gift from the Kim Moon Bae Underrepresented Students scholarship as it would make a massive impact on my ability to achieve an education. It has been my absolute goal and dream to receive a college degree and the gift of your scholarship could lift a huge burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my studies instead of worrying about the financial strain. Thank you so much for your time. Pinagigi, Miigwech.