Thirty-four students from the Information Technology Academy’s Tribal Technology Institute (ITA-TTI) Oneida and Lac du Flambeau programs recently spent three days in Madison for the ITA-TTI 2017 Spring Leadership Conference. After months of planning, the conference was held from March 31 to April 2. The Spring Conference is part of an effort to connect tribal students with each other, introduce them to the City of Madison and the UW-Madison campus, and provide them with an opportunity to meet counterparts from the ITA Madison program.
In addition to morning technology sessions, students toured local company Epic to learn about healthcare software. Juniors completed a practice ACT exam, while sophomores took part in a session on leadership. The busy conference schedule included numerous cultural events such as the On Wisconsin Annual Spring Powwow hosted by Wunk Sheek and the UW-Madison. In addition, students went on a Native Landscapes walking tour of campus highlighting architecture and culturally significant landmarks important to the UW-Madison campus and relevant to the American Indian experience and history.
Students from ITA-TTI Oneida and ITA-TTI Lac du Flambeau thoroughly enjoyed meeting their ITA Madison peers. In gaining familiarity with the city of Madison and UW-Madison’s campus, students also realized that Madison is not as scary as they may have thought and that going to college at UW-Madison could be in their future.