(Photo courtesy of Clint Summers)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 12, 2018
All About the People: Muscogee (Creek) Citizen Credits Nation for Education, Experience
TULSA, Okla. – Muscogee (Creek) citizen, Clint Summers, is in his third and final year of law school at the University of Tulsa and was recently selected as TU College of Law’s 2018 Oklahoma Bar Association Student of the Year.
Each year, Oklahoma law schools select one graduating student as the OBA award recipient and to be recognized at the association’s event held in November.
Born in Oklahoma City, Summers grew up in Dallas, Texas and later attended the University of Oklahoma before relocating to take a position at Willliams in Tulsa. He later left the company to study law at TU.
Summers said with the help of grant funding, MCN made it possible for him to receive both his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees.
“I wouldn’t have gotten either degrees the way I did without Creek Nation,” Summers said. “The Creek Nation has always been a really big source of pride for me and my family to be members and part of the Nation. I think it really has shaped the direction of both my education and my career.”
Summers received funding through the MCN Higher Education Department’s Undergraduate and Post-Graduate Grants. Most recently, he was awarded the MCN Higher Education Doctoral Grant.
While finishing up his degree TU, he is also working as an articles research editor for the Tulsa Law Review, as well as a research assistant working for TU Professor Russell Christopher who specializes in criminal law.
In addition to the prominent awards and honors Summers has received, he has also gained significant experience on the federal courts level through externships with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa.
Summers authored an article to be published soon in the American Indian Law Journal titled “Rethinking the Federal Indian Status Test: A Look at the Supreme Court’s Classification of the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma.”
After graduation, he will serve one year as a law clerk to the Honorable Claire V. Eagan, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa and the following year he will serve one year as a law clerk to the Honorable Jacques L. Wiener Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, La.
Summers has been looking into programs to apply for after completing his externships that would allow him to practice Native American Law.
“Being a Creek citizen is just a sense of pride for me and it’s directed me toward Native American Law and that’s something I really hope to practice after my clerkships,” Summers said.
Summers said he is honored and grateful for the recognition and experience he has received throughout his career.
The countless achievements of citizens and their stories of success is what motivates the Nation’s departments and services to help in all aspects of life when needed because ‘it’s all about the people’.
The MCN Higher Education Department offers grants to Muscogee (Creek) citizens pursuing undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from an accredited college or university.
The department offers three Undergraduate Grants; The Tribal Fund Grant, Bureau of Indian Affairs Grant and Tribal Incentive Grant.
The Post-Graduate Grants include the Doctoral Degree Program and the Master’s Program.
For more information on additional assistance MCN Higher Education provides, visit the departmental website at www.muscogeenation.com/services/education-training/higher-education/ or contact the office at 918-732-7661.
Grant requirements, applications and deadlines are available on the website, as well.
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