Category: Education

Music yoU ROCK

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News 

For one hour, every Monday evening, the Tulalip Youth Council board room is turned into a music studio where a live rock band rehearsal takes place. As you approach the building, you hear the sound of drum patterns increasing and decreasing in pace and volume, accompanied by small fits of laughter. In the middle of the youth council chambers was a small circle of young musicians banging out beats on large paint buckets. The band is so caught up in the moment and exuding so much joy that their smiles become extremely contagious and every four measures somebody ends up making the entire group crack up with just a grin. 

As the drums started to decrescendo, a voice that many local youth would instantly recognize, began to sing the hello song, welcoming everybody to the rehearsal. Victoria Fansler, of the Snohomish County Music Project (SCMP), led the band with the first song of the day. Victoria often works with the Tulalip youth at the Betty J. Taylor Early Learning Academy, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary and many other schools and tribal programs, helping the kids overcome traumatic experiences through music therapy. Over a year ago, representatives of SCMP attended a meeting held by the Tulalip Youth Services Inclusive Advocacy Committee,  and from the meeting, Music yoU ROCK was created – an interactive, inclusive rock band instructed by SCMP Music Therapist, Colby Cumine. 

“We started about a year ago,” says Colby. “We attended a few parent committee meetings for tribal youth with special needs and there was talk about a lack of opportunities for kids with special needs, especially those who are aging out of services. After high school, there are no federal requirements to continue providing services for individuals with disabilities who graduate from high school. We started the program a year ago and we had three or four people sign up each quarter. And we’ve had three other successful quarters since then.”

After Victoria welcomes everybody to the class, the band practices a few more rhythmic exercises before Colby calls upon someone to pick a song the class can get down to. Colorful scarves are passed out as Colby queues up the jams on his phone. Once the beat drops, everybody is out of their seats, dancing and waving their scarves. Following the dance party, the group picks the instrument and partner of their choice and begin practicing a song. This particular day, the band worked on the Michael Jackson classic, Billy Jean. After practicing with their partners, the band reforms their circle in the middle of the room to perform the song altogether. 

“We are using music for goals that aren’t necessarily musical,” says Victoria. “In Music-Ed or a typical rock band experience, the focus would be on the final product, the performance and quality of the music. Here we’re focusing on that ensemble connection, noticing how each other plays and communicating together.”

“Music is a level playing field, everyone enjoys music in some form or another,” adds Colby. “In the music therapy setting, we don’t emphasize how well you can play the instrument but how much fun you’re having while playing the instrument. So if you’re a super talented guitar player who can play all the chords, licks and chops, or if you’re just strumming along having fun, both of those are equally as successful in this program. 

“It’s a really good way to bring people together,” he continues. “People are sharing songs here; every week we drum along to a song chosen by someone attending the group. Even today one of the guys was singing along to a song he doesn’t listen to outside of this group but he’s picking those lyrics up and connecting with other people through that song and that makes my day. It’s always cool to see their growth, it’s always such a rewarding reminder of why we started this program and why we want to continue it.”

Before the class ends, Victoria sings farewell to her bandmates. Many of the musicians meet up briefly after the class to discuss their day and speculate on how much fun next week’s class will be. 

“I come in every Monday,” says young rocker Ernie Mapanoo. “I like to play the guitars and learn to play the piano. Today I was working on a Michael Jackson song, I like that song a lot too, it was fun. I work on all kinds of songs though because I love music. I play the drums and guitar, that’s why I come out all the time to this rock band. [Colby and Victoria] are pretty cool too; I like them a lot.” 

This quarter, the band was joined by future music therapists Lindsey and Kesha, Seattle Pacific University music therapy practicum students. Throughout the entire session, the young ladies assisted the musicians with chords and tempo and shared laughs during both of the dance and drumming sessions. 

The musicians will continue vibing out the Youth Council board room every Monday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. until December 17. Towards the end of Music yoU ROCK, the band will record a few of their hits and have a listening party on the last day of the program.

Music yoU ROCK is funded through the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA). The program is open to the entire community. Those who are DDA participants can attend the program with no charge. For non-DDA particpants, the cost of the progam is $220.

For more information, please contact Tulalip Youth Services at (360) 716-4909 or the Snohomish County Music Project at (425) 258-1605.

TELA celebrates first Cultural Day

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News 

On the morning of October 12, the Betty J. Taylor Early Learning Academy (TELA) gymnasium was occupied by tiny future leaders who sat crisscross apple sauce while listening to the Killer Whale story told by a team of nine Lushootseed Language Teachers. In addition to stories, the teachers also performed a number of traditional songs, receiving plenty of crowd interaction as the youngsters knew many of the words and happily sang along in Lushootseed. This joyful gathering was just the first of many upcoming Cultural Days where the students attend an assembly in the morning and create crafts in the afternoon, all while learning about the traditional lifeways of the Tulalip people. 

“The second Tuesday of every month we are having a Cultural Day during a full day of school,” explains TELA Montessori Manager, Tami Burdett. “We start with a cultural assembly and invite the families and then we do a cultural craft in the classrooms. We teamed up with the language department and it was wonderful because the kids know these songs and they proudly sing them.”

This year TELA has implemented a language immersion curriculum, partnering with the Lushootseed language department to teach the revitalized Coast Salish vocabulary to the kids. Every day the language warriors pay a visit to the classrooms, sometimes leading the class by sharing stories and songs in Lushootseed, other times simply interacting with the kids and speaking the language to them individually during playtime or lessons. 

Studies have shown that kids soak up the most knowledge during early childhood development, making the expression ‘a child’s brain is like a sponge’ seemingly true. Families of other cultures have proven that kids can learn to fluently speak two languages at a young age, speaking their native tongue at home and English while at school or with friends. More importantly, TELA is proving that right now with the language immersion approach, ensuring Lushootseed lives well into the future. 

Cultural Day takes the traditional teachings and the language immersion idea to a new level. Each assembly features local guest speakers who offer their stories and teachings to the students. The half hour assembly is followed by cultural crafts. Once the kids return to their classrooms, they participate in a hands-on traditional art project. 

“Each of the classrooms are going to be doing a fish print today,” says Tami. “Once completed those will be going home with the kids to share with their families. It’s actually really neat, they take the salmon and paint it and then they take the fish and put in on fabric and you have a beautiful fish print. We’ve known many families that frame their kids’ fish prints and display them at home.”

Many TELA teachers use craft time as an opportunity to expand their lesson plan and teach the kids the cultural significance the craft has to Native communities. For instance, as her students covered their fish in red paint, TELA teacher Alix McKiernan asked them a few questions about salmon, like where do salmon live and if they liked to eat salmon. After the kids responded, Alix added a number of ‘did-ya-know?’ facts about the relationship between salmon and Northwest tribes and also asked the students if they’ve ever caught a salmon or went fishing with their families. 

After their prints were finished, Alix’s classroom was treated to more interactive education as she cut open the salmon so the kids could get an up close look at the anatomy of the fish.

TELA’s next Cultural Day will be held on November 13, and families are welcome to join and watch Tulalip’s future generation learn their ancestral teachings to strengthen the culture for years to come. 

“It warms my heart to hear the children sing and speak the language and to see them so excited to learn about our culture,” Tami expresses. “[At future Cultural Days,] the boys will be making drums with their families and the girls will be making clappers. Those will follow them until they graduate and then they get to take them home and use them to practice and perform. The kids love the songs and the language, even when we welcome them into the school every morning we hear ηαʔɬ δαδατυ ανδ ηαʔɬ σψəψαʔψαʔ in the afternoon. We love hearing the language.

“We would like to send a big shout out to Brandon Carrillo for donating fish; Ms. Kris who coordinated with her brother-in-law, Steven Young, from fisheries, they donated nine salmon. And also, Rudy Madrigal, who bought twelve fish from our fishermen and donated them to [TELA Policy Council Chair] Mike Pablo for us.”

For more information about Cultural Day, please contact the Betty J. Taylor Academy at (360) 716-4250. 

Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary seeks teacher assistants

Douglas Shook, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary Principal and Malory Simpson, Youth Services/ Education School Advocate.

Principal’s Message:

Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary families and Tulalip community members,

Hello! We have had a great start of the school year with our students and families.  A big part of this great start is the support we receive from our partnership with the Tulalip Tribes, our families, and Tulalip community members. Seeing our community members and families during the day at QCT is a treasure for our students. They look forward to seeing you and ask when you will come back! Our kiddos are so proud to show what they are learning and how they are growing their brain to all of our caring adults at QCT.

The bond with our students and their learning is strongest when they see the same caring adults working with them during the school day and seeing them when school is out. Seeing us at their football and basketball games cheering them on and participating in community events like the Back-to-School Backpack distribution and Salmon Ceremony, shows our students from Kindergarten to 5th grade that we are interested in their lives and we are there for them.

One way to strengthen this bond is having community members working on our staff. We currently have multiple openings at QCT, specifically for para-educators/teacher assistants who help our students in their learning Math and Reading, while helping to supervise during lunch and recess. These positions are the backbone of our school as they work closely with all of our students from Kindergarten to 5th grade.

I welcome our families and community members to apply for our open positions and join us in growing all of our students to prepare them for middle school and beyond. We start at $18 an hour for our teacher assistant positions in the Marysville School District. Links to apply to our positions are on the MSD home page (www.msd25.org), towards the bottom of the page is the link “Apply for a Job”.  

Interested applicants must have an Associate’s degree or HS diploma/GED with a skills assessment test. If you only have a free day during the school week, we’re always in need for substitute teacher aides, too. Being part of our QCT team is a great way to help our students and invest in their future.

If you need help with applying or have questions, please stop by the school or call us at (360) 965-3100. We’re always looking to partner with our families and Tulalip community members to provide the best for our students and their success!

Principal Douglas Shook, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary

TERO grads join forces with Snohomish County Public Works to benefit salmon recovery

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Salmon habitat restoration, honoring treaty rights, and tribal members showcasing successful employment within the construction trades are themes currently in action at an on-reservation construction project. Heavy construction equipment has owned Marine Drive between 19th Ave NE and 23rd Ave NE since September 10, while Snohomish County Public Works replaces a poorly conditioned culvert with one that is fish-friendly by design.

A culvert is basically an underground pipe that allows water to pass beneath roads and other obstructions. The Marine Drive culvert carries water flow from Hibulb Creek to the Snohomish River estuary, which is a fish bearing stream. 

According to Snohomish County officials, the existing 24-inch corrugated metal culvert under Marine Drive is in poor condition and undersized. The current culvert is a fish barrier, while the new larger box culvert will meet fish passage requirements.

“Originally engineers designed road crossing culverts to maximize the capacity to carry water with the smallest possible pipe size. This was efficient and economical,” stated Snohomish County representatives. “A fish-friendly design approach is a culvert wide enough and sloped properly to allow the stream channel to act naturally.”

On June 11 of this year, the Supreme Court split a decision resulting in the enforcement of a lower court order requiring Washington State to pay for the removal of over 900 culverts that have become clogged or degraded to the point of blocking salmon migration. 

It was a decision that had been passing through the courts for 17 years. The U.S. government sued Washington back in 2001, on behalf of 21 Northwest tribes, to force the state to replace culverts blocking fish passage with structures that allow fish to pass through. Because the pipe-like culverts block salmon from reaching their spawning grounds, they deprive the tribes of fishing rights guaranteed by treaty.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that the treaties promised tribes there would always be salmon to harvest, and that the State has a duty to protect those fish and their habitat,” said Lorraine Loomis (Swinomish), chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “The ruling will open hundreds of miles of high quality salmon habitat that will produce hundreds of thousands more salmon annually for harvest by everyone.”

Snohomish County officials also point out, “The ability of salmon and steelhead to swim upstream to their traditional spawning grounds, while allowing juvenile salmon to move upstream and downstream unimpeded for rearing is vital to their recovery across Washington.”

This specific culvert replacement is vital to salmon recovery and habitat restoration on the Tulalip Reservation, and it’s of particular significance to three TERO Vocational Training Center (TVTC) graduates who are part of the construction team.

Jay Davis, Jess Fryberg and Brando Jones graduated from TVTC before starting their construction careers.

Jess Fryberg (Tulalip), Brando Jones (Tulalip) and Jay Davis (Sioux/Turtle Mountain Chippewa) all trained in the construction trades at TVTC and graduated with hopes of pursuing a career pathway that was previously unavailable. Now, each is earning prevailing wages and gaining lifelong skills while working on a project beneficial to protecting treaty rights and salmon recovery.

“Construction has opened up a variety of work for me and each site I’ve worked on teaches me something new,” shared Jess, a 24-year-old tribal member. “Working on this culvert project on the Rez has been a great opportunity. Plus, a long time down the road I’ll be able to tell my kids I helped build it.”

For 27-year-old, single father Brando Jones, he moved from Tacoma to Tulalip two years ago just to have an opportunity to change his future by attending TVTC classes. It was a big move that is now paying off huge dividends as he won sole custody of his son, Dakota, and is building a solid foundation for a career in the construction trades.

“Being able to work on my own reservation while building a future for me and my son is such a good feeling,” shared Brando. “The fact that this replacement culvert will help salmon and protects our treaty rights is a bonus all on its own.”

The Marine Drive culvert construction is expected to complete in the next few weeks, while its positive impact to local salmon habitat restoration is expected to last generations.

Blazing a trail for community inclusion

Tulalip tribal members Kelsey Sheldon (center) and Tyler Fryberg (far right) have been selected as students during the Learning Center’s inaugural year.

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 11, the repurposed Damascus Road Annex in Marysville was home to a warm gathering of inclusive-minded citizens and their families. The occasion? To celebrate the grand opening of the Marysville Tulalip Integrated Learning Center.

The Integrated Learning Center is a post- secondary education center for adults with developmental disabilities who have graduated from Marysville School District. At the Center, students will learn how to ride public transportation, take art classes, and learn the fundamentals of cooking, nutrition, and adaptive fitness. They will have the opportunity to raise their own vegetables and flowers. Also, students will practice reading to animals and develop employable skills at Sky Haven Farm. 

Mayor Jon Nehring and several Eagle Wings disAbility Ministries staff members were on-hand for a ribbon cutting ceremony, marking the official kick-off to a program nearly two years in the making. 

“The Integrated Learning Center has the potential to be a transformative program for the young adults of our community with special needs,” announced Mayor Nehring. “Where they previously had limited opportunities for continued growth, there is not a substantial option right here in Marysville.

“This is the culmination of a lot of dedicated hard work by so many people who have a heart and passion to help these individuals reach their full potential.”

Tulalip tribal members Kelsey Sheldon and Tyler Fryberg were selected as students for the inaugural year of the Integrated Learning Center. 

Kelsey and Tyler will be among the first group of select students to forge lasting connections with the community that will help them establish relationships and increase employment opportunities, while developing health and safety skills. Together they will help establish the foundation for other tribal youth with special needs to develop skills that further their independence and enhance their lives.

An inclusive community with concerned parents, school teachers, key leaders from Tulalip, job coaches and citizens, it is the Integrated Learning Center’s goal to see everyone in our community live a full, independent life.

“A program for individuals with disabilities who have aged out of school, I’m so thankful for everyone who has made this possible,” stated Kelsey’s mother, Amy Sheldon. “It really is a dream come true.”

New backpacks and fresh supplies for the upcoming school year

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Back to school shopping season can be a financially straining time for families everywhere. According to the National Retail Federation, parents will spend over $27 billion on K-12 back-to-school necessities this year. That averages to approximately $700 per child. 

Fortunately, for Tulalip students and families, the annual Tulalip Tribes back-to-school bash reduces those costs by offering free backpacks, school supplies, and even stylish haircuts.

Held on August 22nd, the Don Hatch Youth Center looked like Christmas morning with hundreds of children and their families scurrying excitedly through the bash in order to get first dibs on a variety of fresh, new school supplies. 

“I appreciate the generosity of the Tulalip Tribes for purchasing the amazing backpacks along with all of the supplies that they include, too, for not only my children but all of the children that get to participate,” shared Melody Hatch, mother of three. “I love to see the excitement on the kids’ faces as they get to pick out their cool new backpack, then watch as they put them on to go show off their to their friends.”

“We’re very blessed as a tribe to get these things and to have events like this for our children,” added Winona Shopbell-Fryberg, mother of five. “There are a lot of tribes that don’t get to do this. Thankful to our tribe for always thinking of our youth, and thank you to all who helped with backpack day.”

Some families come further than others in order to attend, including those who arrive hours early in order to ensure their kids get one of only a limited few, highly coveted North Face backpacks. Such is the case with mother Shandra Rude and her five children, ranging from elementary grade to high school.

“We got here over two hours early and were one of the first families through the door,” explained Shandra. “This day is a fun outing that the kids look forward to every summer. They all got the backpack they wanted.”


In total 1,715 backpacks were distributed to Tulalip tribal youth and other Natives enrolled in the Marysville School District. Each backpack was filled with basic school supplies required by grade level. For those students in search of a stylish haircut for their first day of school, the staff of Essential Earth Organic Salon was on-hand offering free haircuts.

“We want our youth, families and community to know how much we value education,” stated Education Coordinator, Jessica Bustad. “We need our parents, families and community to join us in sharing this message with our youth. Your education is important and so is your future as young leaders of this community. 

“Our staff worked really hard on preparing this event, I am grateful for our Tulalip Youth Services team for the dedication to our youth and community. Seeing our youth happy, excited and prepared for back to school reminds us of our purpose here.”

Earlier that morning, the Youth Center held a breakfast social for students with special needs and their families. This allowed the students with disabilities to come socialize together and get their backpack before the large crowd arrived.

The first day of school is Wednesday, September 5th. In celebration of the new school year, there will be a variety of outdoor activities that day at the back-to-school BBQ from 3:00pm – 8:00pm hosted at the Youth Center.