Lawrence, KS
Snap Shots of Haskell Today
by Will Main (Sioux)
Haskell LIGHT Ministry
A young Chickasaw woman trains at Haskell Indian Nations University, where she did her undergraduate work in American Indian studies. She trains in the makeshift boxing ring and workout center of the small Haskell boxing club. She is a study in determination! She went to 
China two years ago for the World Championships and brought home a silver medal for Team USA.
A group of five women at Haskell Indian Nations University have established the first sorority and only Greek organization on campus. The women are members of the Alpha Pi Omega, the nation’s oldest American Indian sorority that was established at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Haskell joins four other schools in the process of creating chapters on their campuses. These young women are to be commended for their hard work and foresight in bringing this organization to the campus of Haskell. Some have expressed their surprise that Alpha Pi Omega is not already well established at Haskell. However, in an interview with Indian Country Today, Alpha Pi Omega’s grand expansion director has said, “They have the potential to be the biggest chapter.”
Sadly, a star athlete who led Hays-Lodgepole to a Class C state basketball championship as a sophomore in 2007, and had been enrolled at Haskell University and would have done well here, died in police custody of apparent acute alcohol withdrawal. He was arrested while he was home attending his grandfather’s funeral.
On Haskell basketball, The Kansas University Jayhawks work on a practice court in a facility so new the smell of fresh paint still fills the air. Their court is part of a $42 million renovation/addition to esteemed Allen Fieldhouse, a renovation that’s added concourse space for the fans and a tricked-out locker room and 
suite for the players. This benefited Haskell. The team now has its own locker room, with hand-me-down lockers from KU’s football team. “We didn’t even change in here before,” stated one player, who is Navajo. He continues “We’d come to practice or to games already dressed.” The difference, however, between the two programs is a gulf of opportunity.
The kids wearing Jayhawks blue have been seasoned and scouted since they were preteens. In high schools skilled in the language of NCAA eligibility and summer-league teams moving across the country so they can showcase their skills, these kids have been given every chance to make it to college. The players at Haskell, on the other hand, represent the handful of kids who actually have graduated high school (the dropout rate on reservations is 40.7 percent). In some ways, it mirrors what’s happened to Natives in this country.
As I share these things with you it could appear that this is a very negative view of the beloved Haskell University where we minister. However I would ask you to look at it as I do. As we walk among and minister to our Native American People, I am blessed to witness an incredible, maybe even a miraculous resilience that sustains our people. Without question we have obstacles and hindrances, yet despite these obstacles our Heavenly Father has sustained us for centuries; my point being is that nothing is impossible for God. We as a people group (Native Americans) eagerly anticipate the day when God will raise us up and use us for His purposes.
All mentioned in the above articles have been by the LIGHT House and have been blessed by your kind generosity. As you continue to support us, you can rest assured that your support is deeply appreciated and is making a difference in the lives of our Native American brothers and sisters.