The road to a college degree
The travels of a non-traditional student

Thirty-eight-year old Greg Blackdeer is near the end of a journey that led him to a college degree.  Along with the normal challenges facing any college student, Greg faced the additional challenge of leaving a wife and two children before making the “sometimes daily” three and half round trip commute from his home in Black River Falls to the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, where he will receive his degree on May 16.  Hands so used to holding a steering wheel will now be holding a Bachelors of Science Degree in Resource Management.  That degree along with a Minor Degree

Greg Blackdeer

earned in Environmental Law Enforcement, is evidence that for those seeking higher education, “it’s never too late.”  In addition to his degrees, Greg was also a recipient of the Chancellor’s Leadership Award, presented by the university in recognition of special achievement.

A 1984 graduate of Black River Falls High School, Greg later earned an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts from Haskell Indian College, before working at a number of positions with the Ho-Chunk Nation.  Somewhere along the way, he said, “I came to realize that education is important, events gave my life a different perspective and I decided to go back to school.”  Looking back on the time and cost invested to earn his degree, along with the stares sometimes pointed at older, non-traditional students, “some of my classmates were young enough to be my children,” Greg concluded that “it was all worth it.”  Besides learning more about the environmental issues, Greg stated that his studies gave him a new respect for “Mother Earth” a trait that he hopes to share, particularly with Ho-Chunk youth.

As part of his college experience he and 45 other university students traveled to Europe last summer, studying the natural resources and learning how some countries are converting those resources to benefit both the population and the environment.  In Iceland, for instance, he marveled at how scientists are developing methods that would allow hydrogen to be converted to fuel.  At other stops in Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland, the group saw first hand how protecting the air is critical to the protection of farmland, water and vegetation.  While visiting Poland the group saw the effect of not protecting the air.  Poland’s “Black Hole” is a good example of where unregulated emissions from industrial plants killed trees, contaminated farmland and infected the water.  Some of what we saw he said, “was life changing, it was a fantastic experience.”

Along with completing his studies at Stevens Point, Greg recently completed a course at the Chippewa Valley Technical School that focused on the study of environmental law enforcement.  That training will no doubt be used when he starts working for the Wisconsin DNR again this summer.  He has spent most of the last decade working 1040 hours a year for the DNR concentrating on issues relating to environmental protection.  Down the road, he said that he would welcome the opportunity of working for the Ho-Chunk Nation on such issues.

Greg and his wife, Valerie, have also been active participants in the Nation’s foster-care program.  They were foster-parents to and later adopted Isabella, now two-years-old and since last September have been raising Jacob, now seven-months old.