RIVERTON - The gallery of the Robert A. Peck Arts Center was crowded with political and tribal leaders, campus officials and students Wednesday afternoon, as the community celebrated a critical halfway point toward building a $4.4 million Intertribal Education and Community Center on the campus of Central Wyoming College.

U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., announced a $1 million federal appropriation he helped secure for the center's construction, through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who recently signed a bill providing $1.8 million for the center, attended Wednesday's announcement.

Both Enzi and Freudenthal attended the sixth annual Native American Business Expo earlier in the day at Fort Washakie.

Enzi noted that CWC has more American Indian students than the rest of the state's higher education system combined. Time was, he said, that the intertribal center was "little more than a glint on a dreamcatcher," referring to the decorated hoop that catches dreams in Indian lore.

"I just knew that when both tribes agreed, it was going to happen," said Enzi, referring to the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes of the nearby Wind River Indian Reservation. That dream was nearly 40 years old, recognizing the beginning of the community college and state Sen. Bob Peck's role in the college's history.

Peck called the intertribal center an example of exceptional cooperation among the community, the tribes, the state and the federal government, through the support of Wyoming's congressional delegation.

"The design of the center speaks to our determination to better understand one another," Peck said. "The goal is now in sight. Together, we can make it a reality."

Designed by Arapaho architect Dennis Sun Rhodes, the 11,500-square-foot center represents the drum, the heartbeat of American Indian culture.

The center will feature classrooms, conference and meeting space, office space, display space for exhibits and a small kitchen, bringing under one roof a wide range of education, counseling, tutoring and cultural/history resources.

The center features a 2,000-square-foot display space for Indian art and artifacts and an exterior ceremonial plaza for powwows and other events.

Peck said the center will bring together "neighbors, who are for the most part, strangers."

Freudenthal said that while the center wasn't in his proposed budget, he figured the request would get through the Legislature, as it had Peck as "an eloquent advocate" and Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The governor called the center a reason to "celebrate democracy. The system worked, and the right things got done."

CWC President Jo Anne McFarland invited the audience to come back in the fall for the 40th anniversary of the college, and Riverton's centennial, when she hopes the intertribal center groundbreaking ceremony will be held. She also invited the audience back on April 20, "when we'll announce what'll propel us" through the second half of raising money for the project.

Brodie Farquhar is a freelance writer based in Lander. He can be reached at brodiefarquhar@hotmail.com.