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Cheryl Miller is on her way to achieving a major personal goal—earning her bachelor’s degree—thanks to winning a Muckleshoot Scholarship, provided through The Evergreen State College Foundation. Without it, this likely would not have been the case.

Miller is a junior in Evergreen’s Reservation-Based, Community-Determined (RBCD) program with the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, located on the northern shore of the Kitsap Peninsula’s Port Gamble Bay, more than 90 miles from Evergreen’s Olympia campus.

Miller is also a parent with one child currently enrolled in college, too. “My youngest son is a student at Washington State University and I pay for his tuition, so without help, I couldn’t do both,” she said. “Helping Caleb with his education was my first priority.” As the Community Services Division Director for the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s Children and Family Services, Miller has a job with considerable responsibility. She’s in charge of the TANF, Child Support, Elders, Youth, and Indian Child Welfare programs for the 1,200-member tribe. She also provides backup to the director of Behavioral Health, a department they co-manage together because of its size. “In my role, I oversee staff, manage budgets, and ensure overall program compliance,” she said.

She’s been able to pursue her degree, at night and on weekends, precisely because Evergreen offers the RBCD program close to where she lives and works. “It allowed me to go back to school while working full time,” she said. During her enrollment in the program, she’s studied tribal economies, liberal arts, and this year, Contemporary Indian Communities in Global Society, an interdisciplinary program that teaches from a Native-based perspective and has thus far concentrated on the themes of “Indigenous Pathways to Rich and Thriving Communities” and “Building Healthy Communities.” She appreciates the program and the faculty. “The classes are small and allow for great discussions,” she said, and her teachers “have encouraged me when I needed it and they are very supportive of the students.”

An enrolled member of Montana’s Assiniboine Sioux Tribe, Miller has more than 27 years of experience working in social services with tribal and state organizations. Before taking her current job in June 2012, she was the co-director of the Skokomish Nation’s Tuwaduq Family Services, a position she held for eight years. Previously, she was employed with the State of Washington as the Regional Indian Child Welfare Compliance Program Manager. Miller’s scholarship was made possible by a generous gift from the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, which awards grants to organizations addressing the issues facing Native Americans in the region.

Evergreen’s RBCD program, established in 1989 at the Quinault Indian Reservation, was designed to educate placebound Native American students who are deeply connected to their tribal communities. Classes are held twice weekly at the tribal sites it serves and four Saturdays a quarter at Evergreen’s Longhouse on the Olympia campus, where all of the students enrolled in the different programs come together for classes, workshops, and cultural events. The program is community-determined because it values existing community knowledge and engages community members as guest instructors and speakers. The program’s Advisory Council is comprised of tribal leaders from each community who are interested in higher education, and meets quarterly to help provide curricular direction to the program. In recent years, the program has expanded to six tribal sites, serving up to 25 students at each site. Hundreds of students have earned their degrees through the reservation-based programs and gone on to graduate school and various positions in tribal government, social services, education, and other fields.

According to Muckleshoot Tribal Council Chair Virginia Cross, the tribe’s support, made possible through its Higher Education Scholarship program, is especially important when state support is declining. “It reflects the Muckleshoot Tribe’s strong commitment to education,” she said. Miller will reach her educational goal when she graduates in 2015. And she will continue to fulfill her calling. “I intend to continue working in my current position until I retire,” she said. “I’m committed to Native children and families and feel that finishing my degree will enhance my skills.” Of her scholarship, she said, “Winning the scholarship was a true blessing. Without it and future scholarships, it would be very difficult for me to go to school. I am profoundly grateful for receiving it.”