Kimberley Strong’s college degree was a long time coming – nearly 35 years.

Since she started attending colleges in California in the early 1980s, Strong has held a variety of jobs, returned home to Klukwan to care for her aging parents, and served nine years as tribal president of the Chilkat Indian Village.

On receiving her degree at University of Alaska-Fairbanks a month ago, Strong was named winner of the Gray S. Tilly Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduating Non-Traditional Student. The award is one of the university’s three most prestigious for graduates, award program coordinator Lydia Anderson said this week.

“The spirit of the award – besides an interruption in attending classes – is we’re looking for a well-rounded person who’s making a contribution to their community and state,” Anderson said.

For years, Strong was a big proponent of education, urging nieces and nephews to go to college, or to finish their degrees. But sometimes they’d turn the question on her. “What about you, Auntie?” they’d ask.

A turning point came when Strong tried to find volunteers to write business plans for village projects. Those kinds of skills aren’t often offered for free, she learned.

“I decided I want to go for myself, to learn and to help out my community,” Strong said.

Six years ago she enrolled as a distance student in UAF’s College of Rural and Community Development, which allowed her to complete her degree while still living and working in the village.

She took courses online and over the phone. When tests were required, teachers at Klukwan School served as proctor.

To earn her degree, she had to write business plans. One plan she wrote was for a Klukwan village store, which she has since launched on a set of shelves in the Chilkat Indian Village office. A store was one of the goals in the village’s strategic plan, which included several objectives that have been achieved – like establishing a clinic and a community library.

For now, the store stocks staples like toilet paper, Pilot Bread, eggs, canned food and bulk sugar. Strong is hoping to expand and move the business into the village’s refurbished tribal house, essentially recreating Klukwan Mercantile, a village store operated by the Alaska Native Sisterhood until it was destroyed by fire in the 1970s.

“I think it’s helpful. People don’t have to drive all the way into town for a few items. It’s a small thing, but I think it really does help,” Strong said.

Strong said she’s encouraged by a wave of Chilkat Natives returning to the village, though she’d like to see more young families move in.

The challenge in a community development plan is buy-in, including recruiting the support of naysayers, she said. “It really needs to be a community plan. You need to figure out how to use the entire community to work your plan. It can’t just be a handful of the same people.”

Strong said she devotes much of her time supporting sister Lani Hotch’s efforts to finish the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center, also a priority on the village’s strategic plan.

Next, she plans to turn her attention to creating sustainable jobs in the village that don’t just focus on government work. “We need to develop strategies for keeping all this infrastructure alive.”

Although her emphasis was on business and economic development, Strong said her favorite courses were in community wellness and an indigenous perspective on research.

Indian Studies classes, she said, gave her a much clearer understanding of her personal history and Native history.