William Big Bull
k̇īyǎa•s President William Big Bull is a Northern Piikunii language teacher and leader. He grew up speaking the language and was the kickboxing champion of Canada in 1993. He is now one of the leading fluent speakers and currently works for Blackfeet Community College teaching niitsii•ṗo′•″sin and piloting online classes. He also runs Big Bull Energy Consulting and works towards wind-powered energy independence for the people of the First Nations. He dedicates his time to sharing niitsii•ṗo′•″sin and teaches the language throughout the Blackfoot Confederacy. He developed the Big Bull Writing System to allow literacy in the Blackfoot language. |
S. HolyWhiteMountain
nǎaṫo′yǎaṗīyisṫǔk̇i Vice President Sterling HolyWhiteMountain earned his BS in English Creative Writing from University of Montana and his MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop. He was a James C. MCCreight Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and currently directs the Writing Center at the Blackfeet Community College. He contributed to Off the Path Volumes 1 and 2: An Anthology of 21st Century American Indian and Indigenous Writers and is a regular contributor to Montana Public Radio. He has been a student of the Blackfeet Language for seven years and sometimes often Robert Hall while he is teaching classes. Sterling thinks he has better hair than Robert. |
Robert Patrick Hall
āaṗǔssṗǔssii Secretary Robert Hall grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation speaking English but has dedicated his heart and soul to learning niitsii•ṗo′•″sin throughout his adult life. He graduated from University of Montana with a BA in Native American Studies and in Anthropology with emphasis in Linguistics. He is currently completing his thesis on the pedagogy of indigenous language revitalization for his Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies (Anthropology, Native American Studies, and Speech Language Pathology). He was Faculty of the Year at Blackfeet Community College in 2017 for his work teaching the language. He currently heads the Native Studies department for the Browning Public Schools System. Robert thinks he has better hair than Sterling. |