It's a long, long way from Bay Mills Community College, near the shores of frigid Lake Superior, to Detroit. But distance, time and demographics aside, the school and the city are united by Bay Mills' status as the nation's only tribally controlled college that authorizes quasi-public schools, known officially as public school academies. And it's the state's second-largest authorizer of charter schools. The college's "mission toward charter schools" began out of frustration as the small community college in Michigan's Upper Peninsula enrolled many high school graduates who did not have enough math or English skills to do college work. There was another motivation as well: the tribe's desire to re-establish its own school on the reservation for Native and White children. When the charter school law came along, the tribe saw an opportunity not only to help Bay Mills, but also other tribes and other minority groups. The college describes itself as committed to a "community-based and culturally diverse environment that supports and maintains the Anishinaabek culture and language" with a curriculum "designed to integrate traditional Native American values with higher education as a way of preparing students to assume responsible roles in their respective communities." Its first two charter schools opened in 2001: (1) the Arts & Technology Academy in Pontiac, an industrial suburb of Detroit; and (2) the Bay County Public School Academy in Bay City, near Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay.