Bush Fellows Learning Logs

Betty Gronneberg is a new American and a software engineer with one big goal: She wants girls to engineer the world they live in — quite literally. Betty sees the gender disparities in computing and engineering jobs, and knows girls can be the driving force in technology, not just the basic consumers of it. In response to what she sees, Betty wants to foster opportunities for girls to connect with the world of coding and introduce them to careers in technology by creating an enrichment program. She will use her Bush Fellowship to strengthen her leadership expertise, study model organizations in the field and research ways to attract more girls to science, technology, engineering and math.

Psychologist Tami Jollie-Trottier knows that the arts offer a creative outlet for a young person to build self-confidence and cultural identity. Her goal is to create a beautiful and safe haven where the young people of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa can discover self-expression and connect with elders through the arts. With her Bush Fellowship, she will devote time to growing her knowledge of Native arts and expressive art therapy, and develop an art studio open to the community on her reservation.

Carmeann Foster is laser focused on one major goal: reduce the number of black youth in the juvenile justice system. She knows from personal and professional experience that African American youth and communities of color are disproportionately represented in corrections. Carmeann recently launched a nonprofit to create and provide innovative, community-centered rehabilitative solutions. Through her Bush Fellowship, she will investigate the most promising, culturally specific interventions for youth, complete her Ph.D. and grow her leadership network.

Yuko Taniguchi was inspired by how fisherwomen in her native Japan used art to heal from the devastating grief and trauma of a tsunami. That inspiration fuels her work with the Arts at the Bedside Program at the Mayo Clinic, where she helps patients tap into their creativity to express fear, anxiety and grief. Through her Bush Fellowship, Yuko will explore the connections between art and resiliency both at the individual and community level. She will study with national experts who use the arts to connect mind, body and people.

Nevada Littlewolf was the first Anishinaabe woman ever elected to the Virginia City Council and, at age 31, the only council member under the age of 55. That influential experience encouraged her to establish Rural and American Indigenous Leadership (RAIL), a nonprofit focused on growing women’s leadership in rural and indigenous communities. She wants to grow her ability to build RAIL into a nonprofit capable of serving a national audience. Nevada’s Bush Fellowship will provide her with the time and resources to finish her bachelor’s degree, explore positive women’s roles in other global indigenous cultures and seek additional training and coaching to build leadership skills.

Emmanuel Oppong knows that the words “mental health” are not found in many cultures, including that of his native Ghana. Yet as a counselor working with immigrants and refugees, he understands that many of these newly arrived people need support to deal with trauma and culture shock. He wants to build cultural sensitivity into and increased access to mental health services in Minnesota. In his dual role as Community Engagement Coordinator in the Mayor of Saint Cloud’s office, he also seeks to improve race relations in a city growing in diversity. With his Bush Fellowship, he will pursue learning and networking opportunities with experts in the fields of diversity, inclusion and trauma-informed therapy. 

Melissa Boyd wants to help lead the movement to re-stabilize and renew the Ojibwe language in the homelands of her people, starting in the classrooms of youngest learners. Her goal is to create Ojibwe schools recognized for both cultural and academic excellence. She will explore how to replicate in her community the ways the Hawaiian nation created nearly 20,000 proficient indigenous speakers. To master her craft and advance her leadership skills, she will use her Bush Fellowship to finish her bachelor degree in elementary education, complete a certificate of contemporary indigenous multilingualism at the University of Hawaii and study behavior design through Stanford School of Medicine and the engagedIN behavior design firm.

Shelley Madore wants people with disabilities to live a life of self-determination. Her goal is to develop resources for parents and teachers to help students gain important life skills by the time they graduate. As a mother of two children with special needs and a former state legislator, she has developed programs and advocated for policy to expand opportunities for youth transitioning into adulthood. Now, with her Bush Fellowship, she will build her credentials for leading systemic change by completing a bachelor degree in disabilities studies at City of New York School of Professional Studies and by expanding her network of peers in disability advocacy. 

Tyler Read employs art as his tool to improve his community. He believes that art can help young people form their identity and be more engaged in the world around them. He discovered this himself when he moved to Rapid City in 2004 with no understanding of what “community” could mean. Through art, he found success and belonging in his new home. He is passionate about the role public art spaces can play in fostering equity, empathy and shared responsibility. With his Bush Fellowship, he will connect with leading public arts programs across the country to gain new perspectives and knowledge. He also will forge new paths of leadership by offering his expertise and experiences with curious communities and potential collaborators.

Dara Beevas believes that books can save lives, open doors and build bridges, especially in communities of color. As co-founder of the publishing company Wise Ink, she encourages authors to share powerful stories that ignite change, tolerance and growth. She believes that leadership comes down to a single virtue: courage. With her Bush Fellowship, she will grow her abilities to be a bolder, braver and more balanced leader. She will seek mentors who have demonstrated courage in their work and invest in training through the Center for Courage and Renewal, Yale Women’s Leadership Program and Women’s Leadership Retreat in Uganda.

Gene Gelgelu envisions a Minnesota where African immigrants play a major role in the economy. He wants African immigrants to build wealth and sustainability as they become more deeply engaged in the region. An immigrant from Ethiopia, he understands the challenges of and opportunities for building full economic participation in a new country. Under his leadership, African Economic Development Solutions has incubated numerous culturally specific businesses and launched Little Africa, a creative placemaking effort in the heart of Saint Paul. With his Bush Fellowship, he will broaden his knowledge of regional economic policy, build a local and national network to lead more effectively and contribute to solving racial disparities in Minnesota.

Hsajune Dyan often reminds himself and his students that a thousand miles begins with a single step. A Burmese refugee, he has embraced determination and persistency in his own life and work with Saint Paul Public Schools. He is a passionate advocate for English Language Learners, serving as a bridge between newcomers and the school system. He is equally passionate about the success of his small but growing Karen community in Minnesota. With his Bush Fellowship, he will strengthen his leadership and planning skills and enhance his network to better help immigrants and refugees become well-educated, prosperous members of their new community. He will pursue an Ed.D. in education leadership at Bethel University.

Michael Walker’s goal is to awaken the greatness within young black men. As director of the Office of Black Male Student Achievement for Minneapolis Public Schools, he wants to change the way young men believe in themselves and how the community views them in return. He envisions a community where young black men define their own values and dreams, achieve their rightful success and are seen as productive members of society. To advance his expertise and leadership, he will use his Bush Fellowship to finish his doctoral degree, strengthen his research skills and become a certified trainer on Psychological First Aid and Trauma in the Black Body.

Abdirashid Abdi envisions classrooms where the cultural values of English Language Learners are seen as an asset for learning, not a deficit. He seeks to improve academic performance by helping teachers better understand how a student’s cultural background shapes learning style. He wants to develop his leadership skills to coach K-12 educators and provide them with tools to transform the classroom experience for ELL students. He will use his Bush Fellowship to pursue a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction to enhance his leadership and expertise in the education arena. He also will conduct formal field research to impact teacher training.

Lorrie Janatopoulos is the long-time planning director at Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, a social services nonprofit. She also is an LGBT activist on the Iron Range who recognizes that true community change requires relationships, long-term engagement and cross-sector collaboration. With her Bush Fellowship, Lorrie will pursue post-graduate work at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Kennedy School. She will also work at the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board to expand her network and learn more about rural economic and community development.

Vaughn Vargas knows that an effective police force needs to reflect the racial makeup of the community it is sworn to protect. He is coordinator of the first-ever cultural advisory committee in South Dakota for a law enforcement agency, an appointment he took on while completing his engineering degree. He wants to help diversify law enforcement agencies through focusing on organizational behavior and culture. With his Bush Fellowship, he will develop new methods to recruit and retain Native American police officers; he will also attend the Harvard Extension School for leadership training. His personal development will focus on research in historical Lakota leadership and diplomatic relations.

Catherine Squires wants to transform schools into spaces of intentional, intergenerational learning and healing. She seeks new ways to design learning programs that bring together underserved youth, adults and elders to reflect, share stories, reclaim their heritage and repair broken bonds. She wants youth to learn directly from the stories of elders and to make connections between historical challenges and contemporary issues. With her Bush Fellowship, she deepen her understanding of the connections between healing and storytelling at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, the Loft Literary Center and site visits to intergenerational healing programs in the U.S and Canada.

Heather Dawn Thompson wants to engage the private sector to assist the Great Plains Tribes in their efforts to build their strength and self-sufficiency. She is a national expert in Indian law and economic development who seeks greater expertise to respond to dwindling federal assistance and limited grant opportunities for Native nations. She believes that long-term self-sufficiency can come with growth in the financial proficiency needed to compete in a complicated private marketplace. She also believes strong leadership requires the wisdom that the Lakota language and values provide. She will use her Bush Fellowship to pursue corporate finance training, combining it with a focus on traditional Lakota values of leadership, language and self-sufficiency.

As a member of the Granite Falls City Council for nearly four decades and mayor for 20 years, Dave Smiglewski knows first-hand the challenges and joys of community service. He is witness to an alarming decline in civic and community engagement particularly in rural areas, and wants to encourage young adults in his region to reverse the trend. Through his Bush Fellowship, Dave will finish his bachelor’s degree and pursue post-graduate education, studying the best methods to incubate, model and drive civic engagement. 

Martin Wera sees the relationships between good food and good jobs through his focus on hunger relief and workforce development at Ameriprise. He is passionate about exploring ways to unite the food service industry and the nonprofit sector to create a more sustainable future for consumers, employers and workers. Martin will use his Bush Fellowship to learn from other communities that have successfully engaged multiple sectors to mutually solve food insecurity and labor shortage issues and bring this knowledge back to the Twin Cities.

Corey Martin is driven to build resiliency, vulnerability and compassion into healthcare systems, schools, police departments, businesses and homes. He is a physician whose journey of self-reflection and growth led him to found the Bounce Back Project, a community initiative to promote health through happiness. He also is lead physician in Allina Health’s response to clinician burnout. He wants to incorporate positivity and resilience practices into his local health care system and improve mental health throughout his community. He will use his Bush Fellowship to pursue advanced leadership training, build his own mindfulness practice and become a certified facilitator in The Daring Way and Center for Courage and Renewal.

Born in Peru, Yuri Nakasato lived through a devastating earthquake, violent civil conflict and epidemics of tuberculosis and cholera. Despite the obstacles, he went on to earn degrees in medicine and business administration. With a “never give up and always get up” philosophy, he seeks to lead effective, large-scale change within the Sanford Health System to help patients get better, faster and on budget. To help him acquire the leadership skills to lead this change, Yuri will use his Bush Fellowship to pursue a master’s of consulting and coaching for change through a joint executive education program with Oxford University and école des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris.

Mohamed Ahmed uses popular culture to promote peace, democracy and anti-extremism with youth. Through his organization, Average Mohamed, he speaks to thousands of youth and creates safe, healthy spaces for difficult conversations. He also consults with the Department of Homeland Security, Attorney General’s Office and State Department. Now, he wants to develop his personal leadership abilities to help others carry the messages of Average Mohamed to a wider audience. With his Bush Fellowship, he will finish his bachelor’s degree in communication studies, seek mentorship from other successful anti-extremism programs across the country and build his leadership skills through formal communications training.

State Representative Kim Norton introduced legislation and rallied support for the Destination Medical Center (DMC), an economic development project aimed at positioning Rochester as a premier location for health care. Kim wants to help lead Rochester through the dramatic changes ahead, making sure that DMC works for the entire community. Her Bush Fellowship will allow her to complete a master’s degree at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and grow her transformational leadership skills through the Women in Power executive education program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Ahmed Hassan wants to create a model of mental health delivery that is more compatible with the cultural beliefs, attitudes and needs of immigrants and refugees. As a refugee from Djibouti, he understands that many people in his community come to the U.S. with trauma and need mental health services. However, he also observes that many immigrants and refugees do not understand Western concepts and delivery methods and therefore do not access services. He will use his Bush Fellowship to expand his expertise in the field of psychology to better link cultural beliefs and stories with modern mental health practices. He also will grow his communication skills and develop a stronger professional network.

Neil Linscheid wants to start a national conversation about how to design a better, more human-centered approach to the work of community development. In his role with University of Minnesota Extension, he sees committed people struggle with solving difficult community challenges. He wants to bring together the fields of community development and human ergonomics to improve the way these workers are trained, supported and equipped. With his Bush Fellowship, he will compete a PhD in human factor and ergonomics, apply his newly acquired knowledge to community development and increase his strategic communication skills to share the need for and impact of his work.

Brenda Hartman has lived nearly three decades longer than expected after receiving a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Over those years, she has devoted herself to addressing the social, emotional and spiritual aspects of the cancer experience. She sees a strong need to promote a cultural shift in society’s response to death. She wants to introduce a narrative that counters fear and denial with a view of death as a healing process. She seeks new ways to incorporate end-of-life planning into training for healthcare professionals. With her Bush Fellowship, she will study end-of-life practices from different cultures, religions and spiritual traditions and grow her leadership skills through coursework and consultation. 

Marcus Owens is a fourth-generation North Minneapolis resident who is deeply invested in the health of his community. A corporate-turned-nonprofit leader, he employs research, data and anecdotal information to understand the root causes of problems. He wants to study communities with proven records of improving quality of life and bring innovative ideas about successful community development back to the north side of Minneapolis. With his Bush Fellowship, he will seek training with national and international experts in the field of innovative community development, increase his knowledge of wealth-building strategies for low- to moderate-income communities and develop the skills to be a leader who drives sustainable change.

Scott Glew is convinced that the health of our communities depends on how well we prepare the next generation for civic life. He enlisted in the Army National Guard shortly after 9/11 and was later deployed to Iraq, where he directly felt the human impact of war. Today, as a teacher he finds that most American children are disconnected from the realities of global conflicts, which take place thousands of miles away and involve only a small percentage of the U.S. population. He is passionate about moving social studies education to the forefront of student learning. With his Bush Fellowship, he will earn a PhD to build the knowledge he needs to influence a systemic change in education. He also will pursue opportunities to further understand how to build and maintain peaceful, democratic societies.

Alice Musumba is passionate about helping immigrants thrive in Bismarck. She sees the positive impact they have on the wider community when they share their unique cultural identities and experiences. She wants to organize her fellow Kenyans in the Bismarck-Mandan area into a tight-knit community that provides the support that all newly arriving immigrants need to succeed. With her Bush Fellowship, she will study immigrant communities across the country, tap into their most successful practices for integrating new populations and apply those lessons in the Bismarck area. She also will pursue a doctor of public health degree to increase her knowledge of practical public health approaches and solutions for immigrants.

Kristin DeArruda Wharton wants to redefine the rural health care model. She seeks to combine expanded opportunities for nurse practitioners to provide whole-person care with a focus on social and community factors that influence well-being. She believes this holistic model could deliver solutions to rural areas that struggle to maintain strong local health care systems. With her Bush Fellowship, she will pursue education as an integrative nurse practitioner and study successful rural models that bridge the divide between health care and community sources of health and vitality. She also will expand her network of health, policy and community mentors to increase her reach and effectiveness as a rural health advocate.

In 1992, Abdi Roble found a manual camera at a flea market. Captivated, he began taking photography courses at a community college and documenting the Somali immigrant and refugee experience. Ten years later, he founded the Somali Documentary Project with more than 10,000 images of Somali people in the Twin Cities, Rochester, Saint Cloud, Willmar and Pelican Rapids. Through his Bush Fellowship, he will acquire the skills to create a professional archive that digitizes and catalogues these images — the first of its kind in the world. Guided by the motto “Ummad aan dhigaal lahayni, waa dhaayo aan arag lahayn," - "A nation without archives is like eyes without sight,” he also seeks leadership training to support and inspire young people to document and archive their communities.

D.A. Bullock is a community organizer who uses art to supplant narratives of hopelessness with ones that promote and inspire collective understanding. He wants to foster a radical reimagining of north Minneapolis that impacts how long-standing community issues are addressed. He seeks to develop new social art and engagement practices to affect public policy change in the areas of criminal justice, economic development and social and racial justice. With his Bush Fellowship, he will lay the groundwork and prepare to study at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

Susan Beaulieu teaches about adverse childhood experiences — ACEs — in Native American communities. Defined as traumatic events, ACEs can negatively impact child health and development and have long-term effects into adulthood. Susan is inspired by the power of resiliency and plans to explore traditional indigenous practices around mindfulness as strategies to promote greater wellbeing for Native American youth. She plans to use her Bush Fellowship to finish her Ph.D. and to invest in her own wellbeing, understanding that she must practice what she teaches to truly have a ripple effect in her community.