Echternacht Featured on CEHD Vision 2020 Blog

Jean Echternacht, former Research Associate at the College's Institute on Community Integration (ICI), reflects on her career in an August 4 post on Improving Lives: CEHD Vision 2020 Blog. She notes that much of her work has been about figuring out how best to help students transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. For the last 20+ years, Echternacht has focused on supporting American Indian students, who have the lowest high school graduation rate of any minority. To improve that graduation rate and help American Indian students achieve their goals, she worked with a former colleague and a school and college on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Cloquet, Minnesota, developing a curriculum called Expanding the Circle: Respecting the Past, Preparing for the Future. Published in 2002, the curriculum led to decades of trainings for indigenous populations around the world and a second edition published in 2017. “This landmark educational tool helps students learn more about their culture, practice skills needed for college and adult life, explore career paths and share their story with their peers,” Echternacht observes on the blog. ICI's Jana Ferguson has now assumed Echternacht’s duties relating to the curriculum and trainings.