Meeting of the minds

PABLO — Last Friday, Congressman Steve Daines dropped by the Salish Kootenai College to tour the campus and meet with newly inaugurated president Robert DePoe, III.

DePoe thanked Daines for taking the time to tour the SKC campus. DePoe said 65 percent of SKC students come from over 70 different federally recognized tribes and represent every recognized tribe in Montana, but that 35 percent of students are from the community that are undeclared, meaning they have no tribal affiliation.

“We feel that we provide a wonderful opportunity for higher education for our whole community,” DePoe said.

DePoe, who just returned from a trip to Washington, D.C. to accept an award on behalf of SKC, spoke about the college’s success rate of getting underprepared students ready for graduation during their time at SKC.

DePoe told Rep. Daines that SKC is hoping to open a technical center on campus for its trade programs. In canvassing the community, that is one of the voids they feel SKC could fill, DePoe said. SKC would like to provide those technical skills for people to train quickly and enter the workforce in a short amount of time, he said.

DePoe talked to Rep. Daines about SKC’s hopes to  expand the on-campus housing and double their dormitory capacity, so they could offer more beds and allow more students to attend SKC.

“Robert is a gift to this institution, I know that. I see that you are,” Rep. Daines said.

As the meeting concluded, President DePoe gave Rep. Daines a glass statue of a bison, the SKC mascot.

“It shows you’re a member of the herd,” DePoe said.