Leech Lake Tribal College got a welcome bit of news when a recent survey by WalletHub declared it the best community college in the country. In a ranking of more than 700 two-year institutions, Leech Lake beat out far bigger competitors with top scores on affordability and outcomes.

Both of those elements are worth a deeper look, along with a unique approach to learning that appears to have allowed this tiny institution to connect with its students in a deeper way through its holistic approach, which emphasizes a connection with tribal culture and ancient values.

Elaine Fleming, who leads the arts and humanities department, said the college is centered on the Seven Grandfather Teachings: honesty, truth, humility, love, wisdom, courage and respect. Those values infuse the curriculum and inform daily life at the college, Fleming said. It's why the college has a garden and gives all it produces to hungry students and the surrounding community. It's why grants cover not only tuition, but the student who occasionally needs gas or runs out of money to buy diapers for a child. It's why the college, small as it is, has on-site day care, so that having a baby doesn't shut students out of a path to higher learning.

Leech Lake's students tend not to be fresh out of high school. The average age is 29. Often they have children of their own and are eager to improve not just their minds, but their earning capacity.

"We provide lots of services," Fleming said. "If our students are hungry, we always have food in our wellness center to tide them over. When we teach, we always consider the values our college is based on. We want to educate our students, but we always want them to be in pursuit of love, wisdom and all the grandfather teachings and caring for one another."

Like other colleges, Leech Lake offers courses in biology, chemistry, literature; associate degrees in business and training for law enforcement. But at this school, students also can troop to the Warrior's Building and haul out the canoes for the annual wild rice harvest, or take part in the Monday Drum Feasts, or celebrate at the spring powwow. Free classes to the community teach Anishinaabe arts: the making of ribbon skirts, faceless dolls, birch baskets — even how to collect bear grease. The college's motto? "The path to knowledge is eternal."

This isn't the first time this small, out-of-the-way reservation college has gotten national acclaim. In 2010, Washington Monthly magazine named Leech Lake the nation's seventh-best community college.

College President Patricia Broker said Leech Lake is always striving to do better by its students, community and the Leech Lake Nation. "This has made us so happy," she said. "But we have more to do. We are still a very young college."

Leech Lake has taken on a big, worthwhile task. It seeks to teach its students who they are and where they come from. "We think that makes it easier for them to know where they're going," Broker said.

The Editorial Board offers its congratulations to Leech Lake Tribal College and its students: Howah! Gimaamakaadendaagozim!