Monday, April 23rd in Main 232 was the Woman of Color in Education Award reception honoring UW-Superior student Gail Trombley.

Gail Trombley is an Anishinaabe woman and a student of Interdisciplinary Studies/Communicating Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.  She lives in South Range and is a very active community member in Superior.  She is in track to graduate with honors this semester and has applied to the graduate program in Communicating Arts here at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.  Gail is a woman of uncommon integrity, strength of spirit, and possessed of a world-class sense of humor.  She has overcome barriers both in her education and in her health, with grace and determination.  Her personal experiences have helped her in her community work.

Gail works in Superior, Wisconsin as a housing counselor and advocate helping clients in crises. She assisted in opening up the first homeless shelter in our area, Harbor House (http://www.harborhousecs.org/history). She often works with homeless women of color who are on the verge of homelessness.  Over half of her clients are female.  She works with tenants and landlords with fair housing rights and/or housing laws.  She knows all of the various assistance programs in the community and helps her clients either register for them, or serves as a referral when needed.  She assists persons in crises any way she can-with their shelter, food, utilities, or even in tax preparation (she often helps clients to file their taxes for free). She advises clients in budget counseling and is a HUD certified foreclosure intervention counselor/specialist, the only HUD certified counselor for 16 counties in Wisconsin.   

Gail strives to empower Native women, all women who are descendants of Native Tribes, to stand up for themselves; to be counted, to empower them; to claim their birthrights, if they choose, as well as teaching them the ways to walk Traditional, in the ways of our Ancestors.  Gail states, "Having a plastic card issued to us by the US Government does not define who we are; rather it is our spirits which define us.  It IS our spirits that ultimately define who we are, who we will become."

The reception included an Anishinaabe pipe ceremony, hand drum honor song performance, presentation of award, open mic, refreshments and much more.