Aaniiih Nakoda College

On the Fort Belknap Reservation in north-central Montana, Aaniiih Nakoda College serves the higher education needs of two nations that were once enemies and have shared this land since eighteen eighty-eight. The Gros Ventre, who call themselves Aaniiih, meaning White Clay People, and the Assiniboine, who call themselves Nakoda, meaning The People, were brought together on the reservation and gradually built a shared civic life. The Fort Belknap Indian Community Council chartered the college in nineteen eighty-four, and it received full accreditation in nineteen eighty-seven.

In twenty eleven the college formally changed its name from Fort Belknap College to Aaniiih Nakoda College, centering both nations' self-names in the institution. The college promotes Aaniiih and Nakoda language revitalization alongside the technical and academic programs that prepare students for a world the reservation's geographic isolation would otherwise make hard to access.