June 12, 2012

IAIA graduation on NBC news

Institute of American Indian Arts Featured on NBC Nightly NewsThe Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams June 8 during its annual commencement roundup. The news team reached out to 422 schools and went through more than 220 tapes to come up with the nearly five minute video featured here, of which IAIA was a part.

And when the news team described the undertaking, IAIA topped its list: “Some of the most impactful material came from our sit-down interviews with students at the Institute of American Indian Arts, West Point Academy, Spelman College, the University of Virginia, and Wesleyan University,” the story reads.

A separate story titled “American Indian students find refuge in cultural curriculum” features interviews with IAIA’s valedictorians Jamie Figueroa and Blue Tarpalechee.

“Caps and gowns and degrees embossed with gold, commencement at IAIA looks like the thousands of graduation ceremonies across the country but with a little something extra,” says NBC News associate producer Chiara Sottile in that story. That something extra is the indigenous culture woven throughout IAIA’a curriculum, a curriculum that saved its top students.
Comment:  For another network news report on Indians, see Children of the Plains on 20/20.

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