Elijah Hopkins is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate from the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota. He lives with his wife Samantha in Poplar, Montana on the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Reservation where he raises his eight-year-old daughter, six-year-old son, and four-year-old daughter. For the past ten years, Elijah has worked at Fort Peck Community College as the Vice President for Student Services. His passions include the cultural arts of the Nakoda/Dakota people. Elijah is also a part-time Dakota Language instructor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.
After receiving an AA in Business Administration from Fort Peck Community College, Elijah transferred to the University of Montana-Northern where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He later received an MBA from the University of Mary, ND. Elijah is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Montana for Educational Leadership with a concentration in Higher Education.