Kelley Johnson, a member of the Greemore family, is the newest employee with CPN’s Department of Education, serving as student success advisor for special projects.
Rachel Watson, director of education, said Johnson will be able to help with the college fair, TED Forum, and events for high school counselors, as well as advising for CTE (Career and Technical Education) scholarship applications.
CTE scholarships are for certificates and licenses needed for careers. Students must use programs that are accredited, and CPN typically only funds one per student. The CTE scholarships are open to CPN Tribal members in any part of the United States, and the applications are now available through the portal.
So far, Johnson said it has been a wonderful experience working for CPN and very different from being in public education. She spoke of receiving a new laptop and how she’d been using a laptop that was 10 years old at her previous job.
“But that’s what happens in public education, and, you know, we just purchased a lot of things on our own,” she said. “My husband retired after 39 years in public education, and we both spent a lot of our money on not just things that we needed for our classroom, but for our students as well.”
Johnson grew up in Maud, Oklahoma, where she graduated high school before receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Central University.
Johnson said she worked at Seminole High School in Seminole, Oklahoma, for more than 30 years, first teaching family and consumer science and then working as the counselor for the last 10 years.
“Education is very near and dear to my heart,” she said. “I’ve worked with kids for the last 10 years with scholarships, and prior to that, what I taught was career tech oriented. So I have a little knowledge in that, and knowledge with scholarships and helping students, which is what the education department is.”
Part of what inspired Johnson to work with CPN’s Department of Education, she said, was that her children participated in the Potawatomi Leadership Program — her daughter in 2007 and her youngest son in 2013.
“I’d always heard that we were Tribal members, but I actually was not even on the roll until probably in my late 20s,” she said, explaining that the rolls had been closed to her until that time. “It was really neat for my daughter to tell us the things that she learned and found out about our family, things I didn’t know because my grandmother was gone and so was my dad. Actually, his whole generation was gone at that point.”
In addition to the connection her family was able to forge with her Tribe through the PLP program, she said they were also appreciative to benefit from CPN scholarships.
“It helped me with my master’s, but not just for me. All three of my children utilized that and it helped them to get their education,” she said.
Now, she looks forward to helping other Tribal members receive benefits such as those that she and her children have received.
“I look forward to helping Tribal members … for them to make their lives better with education, whether that be through career tech or through college,” Johnson said.
For more information about CPN’s Department of Education and the services they offer, visit cpn.news/education.