January Tobacco and Amanda Standing Bear Hear Great News

Amanda and January. Photo by Sierra Concha '13. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School.

January Tobacco and Amanda Standing Bear Hear Great News

By Sierra Concha '13

January Tobacco ‘13 and Amanda Standing Bear ‘13 have been receiving great news recently due to their hard work throughout high school. The separation between first and second ranked students in the senior class is only by .002% in their GPAs. As the year is finishing up, they're fighting until the very last day to determine who earns the incredible title of Valedictorian.

These two students have been hearing excellent news from colleges and scholarships. Tobacco has recently received a letter from Creighton saying she received the Red Cloud Scholarship for Native Americans. This is one scholarship given out to a student at Red Cloud that has maintained a superb GPA and represents leadership throughout the school along with excellence in extracurricular activities. It pays for most of the tuition all four years. “I feel pretty excited,” Tobacco stated. “This is the school I wanted to go to.” She also received two grants to attend Creighton University.

Standing Bear has also been having an exciting couple weeks. So far she has been accepted to every college she has applied to: Dartmouth College, University of Notre Dame, University of Miami, Creighton University, and American University. She learned in January she was a recipient of the Horatio Alger State Scholarship. She is also a Gates Millennium Scholarship finalist and is eagerly waiting to hear the final results. “I was excited when I found out about Gates and Horatio Alger,” she said. She is leading the senior class currently as number one in GPA.

They are excited for each other as both prepare for their bright futures ahead of them. They have every class together and believe this is a friendly competition. Only time will tell who finally conquers the top of the senior class this year.