Jennie Harlan, a senior at Verde Valley School in the Village of Oak Creek, has been accepted to attend Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire. (Courtesy photo)

Jennie Harlan, daughter of Darryl Harlan who works in housing for the Yavapai-Apache Nation and Genevieve Datsi, judge for the Yavapai-Apache Nation, has been accepted into Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire for the 2016 academic school year.

Harlan is a senior at Verde Valley School in the Village of Oak Creek (Sedona).

Dartmouth is a small private college with 6,000-plus students enrolled in either the Liberal Arts or School of Medicine, Engineering or business program of the college.

In addition, Dartmouth has graduate programs in 19 departments. Most students who enroll at Dartmouth are at the top 10 percent of their graduating class with a 3.50 grade point average or better requirement for entrance.

Dartmouth has graduated many people of notoriety such as well-known movie stars, politicians, medical doctors, entertainers, and scientists.

Dartmouth was founded in 1769 before the American Revolution by George III of United Kingdom. The college's forte' is that it has a close connection to Native Americans as it was one of the first schools set up for the education of Native Americans. For sport fans, Dartmouth College also participates in the NCAA Division I sports program.

The college also has a strong outreach program for Native Americans students across the country.

Harlan participated in the 'Fly In' program for Native American students this past October that allowed her a short visit to the campus and to speak with college representatives.

Harlan says she has a strong desire to study journalism at Dartmouth and will be graduating in the Class of 2016 from the Verde Valley School this coming spring.

(Don Decker is the editor of the Yavapai-Apache Newspaper)