On many levels, Byington’s work with Native children and parents when she was Title VII coordinator prepared her for this job. She learned to listen, listen, listen.

“How it started was asking them what they would like to see,” Byington said. “They gave us guidance on what they thought should be in the history center, especially their perspective. So we really took that and listened and then being responsive. Of course not everything asked for will end up in there. It’s really trying to make sure that what we are hearing makes sense with the rest of the material in there. What I am happy to report is that there is over 200 pieces about Native history. Some are nation specific. And some are more inter-tribal. One thing that I feel pretty happy about was some of the acquisitions that we recently received and we will continue to receive.”

The new museum will have a Universal Wall that will span three floors of the new museum. And to ensure that Native perspectives are a part of that wall, a Call for Artists was implemented.

“Just recently, we put out a call for Native regalia,” Byington said. “We worked with several Native women veterans to make sure that we were doing it in a good way. We have further consulted with another Native individual just to make sure what kind of questions we asked to make sure that we are covering them in our application process. And so I am happy that we are doing it in a good way. What I am hearing from people, especially that Call for Native Artists, quite a few artists have said they appreciated the process that we went through. When I think about relationship building, it’s more or less us listening rather than us talking. And so, if people are happy with the process that we are implementing, that makes me feel very good about the job and the relationships that we are building.”

For Byington, it’s all about the tribes and she is there to facilitate their participation.

“There is a lot of complexity,” Byington said. “We really want that when Native people, especially from those Nations, are looking at the exhibits that they feel proud. I want to feel proud. I’m here in this job because I want to feel proud of the exhibits and the stories that we are telling.”

That story will be told when the museum opens in 2027.

Tim Fish, Byington’s husband, came to his work as a tribal liaison from a different place. Fish grew up on the Osage Reservation in the town of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Fish grew up in poverty and lived in a system that didn’t appreciate Fish’s potential and a passion for learning that laid buried deep inside him.

“I actually dropped out of high school during my junior year,” Fish said. “I grew up on the reservation and went to a reservation school. It really wasn’t a good experience for me. I didn’t really connect with any of my teachers. They really didn’t have any long-term goals for me or for any of us Native kids going to school there. I don’t think there were any real plans for us to go to college or anything. I just didn’t feel connected to school and didn’t see the need to finish school. I was the youngest of five kids in our family. I have three older sisters and an older brother. They all dropped out of high school as well. I didn’t see a problem with it. And no one urged me to stay in. So I just dropped out, quit going. And I was trying to figure life out as a young person and ended up moving up here. That’s how I got up here.”

By chance, Fish stopped in the Madison College Downtown building out of curiosity more than anything else. Perhaps he was driven by the buried passion to learn.

“I went to the Bursar’s Office window and just kind of asked questions about going back to school,” Fish said. “I expressed my interest and the lady asked me if I had a high school diploma. And I said that I didn’t. I didn’t know that you needed a high school diploma to go to college. I had no idea what college was or how you got into college. I didn’t know anything about it. I had never stepped foot on a college campus until I moved here. To make a long story short, there I was talking to the lady at the Bursar’s Office and I told her that I didn’t have a high school diploma. She told me that I couldn’t go to school until I got one.”

Fish thought that was that and started to leave. But he was stopped by a woman who overheard his conversation.

“She led me into her office, which was across the hall from the Bursar’s Office,” Fish said. “She was a GED instructor. She said, ‘If you are interested in going to school, I can help you get your GED. And you can go to school after that.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ I didn’t have any money or anything at the time. She was like, ‘No, I will pay for the testing and all of that if you are really serious about getting your GED.’ I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I said I would do it. She shared with me about the GED program. She said, ‘I would like for you to consider pursuing your HSED.’ I asked her what was the difference between that and a GED. She shared with me that it took more exams and that was about it. I said, ‘Sure.’ She set a time for me to take the tests. I showed up. And a couple of months later, I got my HSED, my high school equivalency diploma, in the mail. It was amazing.”

Fish went on to attend Madison College and study to become a fire fighter. After he got his certification, he moved back to Oklahoma and worked as a firefighter for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Fish decided he wanted more out of life and moved back to Madison and enrolled in Madison College’s liberal arts program. As her neared his graduation day when he would receive his associate’s degree, Fish was approached by a school official.

“He asked me if I was interested in being a commencement speaker for my graduating class,” Fish recalled. “And I had no idea what that was either. I asked what it was. They said, ‘You just give a speech for the graduating class.’ I was like, ‘Wow.’ That kind of intimidated me, speaking in front of thousands of people at the Alliant Energy Center where the graduation ceremony took place. At first, I was kind of hesitant. But then I was like, ‘We all have a story.’ I accepted it. I delivered my commencement speech to my graduating class in 2008. And I talked about my experiences as a Native person growing up with no support system and poverty and all the challenges I had overcome to be academically successful and that long, hard road it took to get where I was at. I was really intimidated by sharing that story because I didn’t know if people would connect with it because I didn’t see many Native people around here. And so I wondered if people would understand what I was talking about through a Native lens in talking about Native issues and things like that. Would people connect with that? Surprisingly they did.”

To this day, Fish beams with pride when he goes to Madison College and sees his name on the  Commencement Speaker Wall of Honor.

But Fish wasn’t done with education yet. He transferred to UW-Madison.

“I liked learning, which was very surprising because I didn’t like learning in high school,” Fish said. “I found when I got to high school that I loved learning. And I didn’t want to stop. And so I transferred to UW-Madison and ended up getting my bachelor’s degree in Community and Nonprofit Leadership in the School of Human Ecology. And I got my certificate in American Indian Studies. When I graduated from there in 2010, again I found myself asking, ‘What now?’ Again, I had a passion for learning and I didn’t want to stop. After I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, Rachel was working as a Title VII Indian education instruction resource teacher for MMSD. She went on sabbatical and her position opened up. I applied for it and I got it.”

As the Title VII coordinator, Fish engaged with Native students and parents. And this proved to be an invaluable experience for him.

“I used my experience as a Native person and my experience with education to connect with tribal families throughout the school district,” Fish reflected. “I listened to all of their concerns working with the Native American students and families. Students especially didn’t feel connected in school and I understood that through my own experience. I asked them what we could do and they said they needed a place of community for themselves so that they could come together. There wasn’t anything like that in the schools. And so I worked with the schools and we created the first ever Native American Student Association at West High School and it grew over to East High School. It provided a place of community for Native students. It gave them a sense of belonging. It provided them a platform where they could talk about their issues and share them with their community.”

The Native American Students Association — NASA — gave the students a platform to advocate for better conditions within MMSD.

“Some of the issues they wanted to work on was the mascot and logo issues,” Fish said. “I worked with the students there and they were able to draft a race-based mascot and logo policy with a clothing ban. We had to present it to the school board. And we had the community show up and support that. A lot of community members gave testimony in support of it. And the school board passed it. And so then I worked with the superintendent at that time to help with the policy for the schools, the legal department and others. We were able to finalize the policy that a lot of the kids actually wrote up. And it passed. I think that clothing ban is still in existence.”

Fish also worked with the parents to ensure their voices were heard as well.

“The parents also felt that their voices weren’t being heard when I was running the Title VII Indian Parent Committee when we brought all of the parents together,” Fish said. “They would share their concerns about American Indian education as well. They didn’t feel their voices were being heard. So I connected with our superintendent at the time and explained those concerns. I offered my recommendation for her to start meeting with the parents. And so she accepted that and started meeting with parents regularly. And so the parents were able to meet with the leadership of MMSD directly. And that made a big difference. I was able to serve as a vehicle for bridging connections and help improve our conditions in education and the community.”