Shawnee Real Bird, age 21, will soon become the first female Native American from any Montana tribe to obtain a commercial pilot’s license. A proud Crow and Cheyenne she applies tribal tradition to her modern day way of life. “Being a pilot has to be a part of you. Like a cowboy with his special horse. It’s something spectacular but challenging; it is like life and we can all learn to fly in our own way.”

Soon, Shawnee will graduate from Naples Air Center, Florida. A year and more of rigorous training will yield an Instructor’s License for fixed wing aircrafts: she already is a private pilot and instrument rated with interest in also flying helicopters. Next will be her Multi-Engine aircraft license, which will allow her to one day fly larger aircraft as a commercial airline pilot… Although she could soon begin her career in private contracting aviation, Shawnee believes the best way to become a great pilot is to be able to teach the gift of flight to others. One day she dreams of bringing aviation back to her reservation. She thinks if youngsters on the reservation could just go on one discovery flight with another Native American at the controls they might be able to see themselves doing something similar.

“Being a pilot, being in control, seeing the world from above, has allowed me to realize there’s a force much stronger than the drugs, alcohol, and traumas that once surrounded me. I want kids to see it from God’s angle above – to understand that from 4,000 feet in the sky their problems look like specs of dust, something that isn’t necessarily easy to overcome but rather doable.”

Shawnee’s life was not easy. Born and raised Crow, she also surrounded herself with her Northern Cheyenne family, attending school in Hardin, St. Labre, and Colstrip, spending much of her life with grandparents, family, and close friends raising her. “Shawnee was abandoned as a little girl, due to alcohol.” noted Crow grandfather Henry Real Bird. “We did our best to teach her to be strong and proud, like the Real Bird family and our people, to respect our ways. When she decides to do something, she gets it done. She’s always been proud to be an Indian.”

At a young age, Shawnee participated in the Crow Sun Dance, praying to know God’s plan for her, hoping to break the vicious cycle of alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, and hopelessness that often affects young Native women on the reservation. “Maybe I had to go a hard way to learn some lessons but I try my best not to regret that. . . Each day is new, I wouldn’t be who I am without stumbling a few times and learning that Creator made me tough enough to stand up again.”

As a youngster, Shawnee stood out as a sizable young woman. At 6’1 and not small in build, she towered over her classmates. Yet it became a blessing, in grade school and middle school Shawnee was the only girl to play Montana AAU football, her team won the AAU state championships two years back to back and she was a star tackle, often to the surprise of her opponents. Her uncle Tuff Harris, also Crow played for the NFL, coached and encouraged her to excel on and off the field. Growing up, of course, being a Real Bird is synonymous with horses and she became an excellent horsewoman gaining her first pony before first grade then graduating onto larger mounts. Naturally, in high school where basketball is King in small Montana rural areas, Shawnee became a star hoopster, perfect size to be a formidable center. That earned her a college scholarship with the Yellowstone Christian College (YCC), located close to the Crow reservation in Billings, Montana. The YCC Lady Centurions made it to nationals for the first time in school history in 2018 taking fifth place with only six players, Shawnee being only a freshman on the team, played every quarter.

Shawnee’s biggest hurdle came in High School. Her senior year she believed dropping out and helping on the family ranch would be best and easier. “Being through so much in childhood, I could no longer connect with the material in school – learning math, reading outdated books, and filling out worksheets.”

Creator had a different plan for her: at a summer basketball tournament she met a young non-native friend who was amazed by Shawnee’s culture and personality. After inviting Shawnee to stay for a week at their family ranch, the young girl’s family decided they wanted to be a support system for the young Crow/Cheyenne… Those kind and generous people informally adopted Shawnee who had one year of high school left, offering a life-line. “Leaving my mom and three siblings, my people, and everything I knew for something opposite to everything I grew up around was hard,” the young Crow woman observed.

Her adopted-family, enchanted with Shawnee and her Native American roots encouraged her to focus on herself till one day she could go back and make a lasting impact for her people. Her adopted Father a retired pilot, jokes that he always wanted one of his kids to be a pilot but never imagined finding one from an Indian reservation. Her adopted family afforded Shawnee the same opportunity as their own children to give her the best shot at breaking the cycle that reservation life can bring.

During the summer after her freshman year of college, Shawnee spent time in Africa, many hours in the cockpit of a bush airplane with her adopted father, realizing there was something bigger than basketball that she could use to cause change in reservation life.

As soon as the wheels touched down on her flight home from Africa, Shawnee was looking at school in the Southern U.S. that offered intense year around training programs for aviation: Florida is where she has been in flight schooling after forfeiting her basketball scholarships. “It’s tough – school six days a week, rigorous studying, multiple training flights in a day, and 2,000 miles away from home. I’m the only Native American Face in the program. But I WILL get it done.”

After completion, Shawnee has some adventures in mind: perhaps an Alaskan Bush Pilot before heading into Private or Commercial airlines. But finally, she plans to return home to the “blood I’m born into”. I’d like to see and possibly start a flight school for Native Americans, encouraging others to look at such possibilities.”

“The views I see when I fly, make me think of my people, especially the young kids who are lost like I was growing up. For people struggling with addictions but most importantly for everyone at home who wants something better for our homelands.” Shawnee Real Bird can be reached at realbird98@gmail.com.

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com)