Category: Education

University of Montana breaks ground on Elouise Cobell institute

Source: Indianz.com

The University of Montana began construction on a new facility that’s dedicated to the legacy of Elouise Cobell, who was the lead plaintiff in the Indian trust fund lawsuit.

The Elouise Cobell Land and Culture Institute will be located on the lower level of the Payne Family Native American Center. It will help students research land and cultural issues.

Construction will be complete in spring 2014.

 

Get the Story:
Construction set to begin on UM Cobell Center (KPAX 10/15)

Related Stories:
University of Montana to name facility in honor of Elouise Cobell (03/07)

Motivational Speaker, Performer and Musician Brian Frejo Joins SWAIA’s Inaugural Native American Youth Performing Arts Workshop as a Mentor and Teacher

As a motivational speaker and youth mentor, Brian Frejo promotes creativity, expression, and strength in identity through art and music. Frejo will lead SWAIA’s youth workshops with a focus on hip hop and Native American traditional music.

Source: PRWeb

Motivational speaker, cultural activist, performer, and musician Brian Frejo (Pawnee/Seminole) joins SWAIA’s inaugural Native American Youth Performing Arts Workshop as a youth mentor and teacher. Frejo, a member of the Grammy nominated drum group Young Bird, will lead workshops throughout the weekend that focus on Native American traditional and hip hop music.

As a motivational speaker and youth mentor, Frejo promotes creativity, expression, and strength in identity through art and music. He is the founder of Created 4 Greatness which originated in the southern plains of Oklahoma with a vision and message of healthy lifestyles, drug and alcohol free wellness, spirituality, culture and language preservation, artistic and musical expression, leadership, teamwork, and goal setting. The organization has provided invaluable educational services and entertainment to more than 200 reservations and urban Indian communities. Frejo’s powerful programs have positively affected the lives of thousands of youth throughout the United States and Canada.

Joining Frejo as youth mentors will be artist Louie Gong, artist Ehren Kee Natay, and actress Michelle St. John.

The workshop weekend will conclude with a performance on November 17, 2013 in Santa Fe, NM.

 

Native students ready satellite for space

Jenna Cederberg, Buffalo Post

Salish Kootenai College students are a part of a team that will soon launch the first “CubeSat” satellite into space.

Physics student Cory Drowatsky tests CubeSat in what he describes as “moment of inertia” with assistance from computer engineering student Zach DuMontier. (Photo by Lailani Upham/Char-Koosta News)

Physics student Cory Drowatsky tests CubeSat in what he describes as “moment of inertia” with assistance from computer engineering student Zach DuMontier. (Photo by Lailani Upham/Char-Koosta News)

 
Char-Koosta News reporter Lailani Upham reports about the work the students are doing at SKC’s Division of Sciences.

CubeSats are small “low cost” satellites in the shape of a cube 10 centimeters in size used by universities, government agencies, and private businesses to orbit the earth to produce images utilizing solar power.

The SKC CubeSat selection is one to be proud of as the tribal college’s satellite design matches building and design along with big name colleges such as Cal-Berkeley, Notre Dam, Texas, MIT, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

CubeSats are effective opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in space flight missions and NASA recognized the importance of the next generation of space scientist and engineers through build and design of the mini-satellites at their higher education institutions.

The CubeSat is set to go to space sometime in 2014.

The design is complete and the SKC team is working on the stages of testing equipment.

The aim of the project is to motivate and prepare Native students to go into careers at NASA centers, as NASA contactors, or attend universities performing NASA-sponsored research.

 

First Nations Development Institute Grants $400,000 to 23 Native American Organizations

By First Nations Development Institute
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013 – 10:18 am

LONGMONT, Colo., Oct. 9, 2013 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) today announced the selection of 23 American Indian and Alaska Native organizations to receive grants through its Native Youth and Culture Fund for the 2013-2014 funding cycle.  The grants total $400,000.

The Native Youth and Culture Fund, underwritten by the Kalliopeia Foundation with other contributions from foundations and tribal, corporate and individual supporters, is part of First Nations’ effort to strengthen Native American nonprofit organizations, and is a key component of First Nations’ overall mission of revitalizing American Indian economies and communities. The fund was launched in 2002 by First Nations to partner with tribes, Native nonprofit organizations and Native community groups working in Indian communities with the intent to preserve, strengthen, and/or renew American Indian culture and tradition among tribal youth. Since 2002, through this program, 223 grants have been awarded to Native youth programs throughout the U.S., totaling $3.7 million.

The grants support the projects and provide capacity-building and training to the organizations’ staff members.  First Nations believes Native youth are key to the future of Indian Country, and that youth-development efforts significantly enhance First Nations’ work to strengthen tribal economies. All of the funded projects demonstrate creative and innovative approaches, whether through traditional knowledge, art, language or a program or business enterprise.

The 2013 Native Youth and Culture Fund grantees are:

  • Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, Lame Deer, Montana, $15,000  – This project seeks to bridge the generational gap between tribal elders and youth by establishing a community garden that will encourage tribal elders to teach youth how to plant and harvest traditional foods using traditional Northern Cheyenne practices and teachings. This project is intended to help revitalize Northern Cheyenne culture and language.
  • Cochiti Youth Experience, Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, $20,000 – This mentorship program pairs tribal elders with tribal youth to ensure that traditional pueblo farming methods are passed down from one generation to the next. The purpose of this project is to teach tribal youth the pueblo values of compassion, kindness, patience, and co-existence.
  • Dakota Indian Foundation, Chamberlain, South Dakota, $20,000 – This summer camp is intended to teach 100 tribal youth from reservations throughout South Dakota about Dakotah culture and language. Tribal youth will participate in traditional rite-of-passage ceremonies as well as a commemorative horseback ride and other traditional activities.
  • Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project, Inc., Sapulpa, Oklahoma, $20,000 – The purpose of this after-school program is to teach Euchee youth their traditional language and farming practices. After school, four tribal elders will teach 40 tribal youth the Euchee language as well as how to plant and harvest heirloom crops that they can use to host a traditional meal for the community.
  • Friends of Akwesasne Freedom School, Roosevelt Town, New York, $18,000 – This language-immersion program seeks to revitalize the Mohawk language by introducing culture-based curriculum to both middle and high school students. In addition to learning the Mohawk language, students will also learn how to hunt, fish, trap and use traditional medicines.
  • Grand Ronde Canoe Family, Grand Ronde, Oregon, $20,000 – This wellness program teaches high-risk tribal youth how to canoe. During the summer, 25 youth will paddle and train 20 hours per week, while also learning traditional Quinault songs and dances.
  • Hawkeye Indian Cultural Center, Inc., Red Springs, North Carolina, $20,000 – This project seeks to preserve traditional Lumbee knowledge and language. Tribal youth will help preserve this knowledge by interviewing and recording tribal elders for the benefit of future generations. Additionally, tribal elders will share their knowledge and wisdom with tribal youth in a classroom setting.
  • Hunkpati Investments, Fort Thompson, South Dakota, $15,875 – This program seeks to incorporate the Dakota culture into their existing programs, particularly their tribal youth programs such as their community garden project.  They intend to teach 100 tribal youth how to plant and harvest traditional Dakota foods.
  • Keres Children Learning Center, Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico $15,875 – This language-immersion program seeks to revitalize the Keres language in a preschool setting serving children, ages 3-6.
  • The Leadership Academy at Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $15,875 – This leadership program seeks to empower young women by teaching them to realize their value and build confidence and trust through hand-on projects.  This project will serve young women, age 15-18.
  • Lummi Youth Wellness Center, Bellingham, Washington, $20,000 – This wellness program seeks to establish a traditional healing garden in the Lummi community. The Lummi garden will be planted and harvested by tribal youth under the guidance and supervision of tribal elders.
  • Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Keshena, Wisconsin, $12,530 – This summer camp is designed to teach tribal youth about Menominee culture and language. Tribal youth will learn traditional stories, songs and ceremonies as well as participate in a drug and alcohol prevention program.
  • Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, St. Paul, Minnesota, $20,000 – The purpose of this program is to end sexual violence in Indian Country by teaching tribal youth traditional Native lifeways. Activities planned throughout the duration of this program include a powwow, arts and craft show, community garden and horse camp, among others.
  • Miss Navajo Council Incorporated, Window Rock Arizona, $20,000 – This mentorship program seeks to pair former Miss Navajo winners with at-risk tribal youth to teach tribal youth leadership skills. In addition to strengthening leadership skills, this program will also help teach tribal youth traditional Diné values and practices.
  • Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains, Timber Lake, South Dakota, $20,000 – This program seeks to revitalize a traditional Lakota /Dakota ceremony – the Isna Ti.  The Isna Ti is a female rite of passage that instills young girls with the virtues and beliefs they need to succeed in life.
  • Nez Perce Tribe, Lapwai, Idaho, $20,000 – This language-immersion program seeks to revitalize the Niimiipuu language with both after-school and weekend classes. Additionally, this program seeks to create electronic resources (i.e., computer software, visual and audio recording, etc.) to document these efforts and teach the language to future generations.
  • The Notah Begay III Foundation, Inc., Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, $20,000 – This program encourages tribal youth to celebrate their culture and become modern storytellers through the use of technology. Tribal youth under the guidance of tribal elders will record and relay health-related stories.
  • Ogallala Commons, Nazareth, Texas, $6,000 – Support for high school, undergraduate and graduate internships for Native American students at non-profits in Colorado and New Mexico.
  • Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, Kingston, Washington, $15,000 – This leadership program seeks to empower tribal youth through an experiential learning initiative. Tribal elders will lead tribal youth along guided tours across traditional lands and waterways. They will recount traditional stories and teach tribal youth traditional practices such as weaving, carving and harvesting.
  • Quinault Indian Nation, Taholah, Washington, $20,000 – This program seeks funding to increase youth participation in the 2013 Annual Canoe Journey. Tribal youth will be directly involved in the local design, planning and hosting of the event. This program is intended to increase youth leadership and lay the groundwork for future youth programs in the Quinault community.
  • Santo Domingo Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, NM, $15,875 – This language-immersion project seeks to actively engage tribal youth in traditional activities such as oral storytelling and dancing as well as traditional farming and cooking methods. The purpose of this project is to increase self-confidence and strengthen cultural identity.
  • XKKF (Xaadas Kil Kuyaas Foundation), Hydaburg, Alaska, $10,000 – This apprenticeship program seeks to revitalize Haida culture and language with activities such as canoe-making and totem-pole carving. The purpose of this program is to preserve, strengthen and renew these traditions for future generations.
  • The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, Zuni, New Mexico, $19,970 – This program seeks to design and implement culture-based curriculum for Zuni students in the seventh grade. This program will focus upon cultural learning, academic success and leadership development.

The projects cover a variety of areas, including youth-elder intergenerational programs, cultivating responsibility and leadership, language programs, traditional foods and farming, wellness, history and cultural documentation.

Besides direct project funding, First Nations also will send a representative from each organization to the 18th Annual First Nations L.E.A.D. Institute Conference, which will be held October 3-4, 2013, at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota. The conference is a key part of the L.E.A.D. Institute (Leadership and Entrepreneurial Apprenticeship Development program), and is an intensive learning, mentoring and networking event for emerging and existing leaders and staff members of Native nonprofits, and philanthropic professionals.

About First Nations Development Institute For more than 30 years, using a three-pronged strategy of educating grassroots practitioners, advocating for systemic change, and capitalizing Indian communities, First Nations has been working to restore Native American control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own – be they land, human potential, cultural heritage, or natural resources – and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native American communities.  First Nations serves Native American communities throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.firstnations.org.

PROGRAM CONTACT: Marsha Whiting, First Nations Senior Program Officer (303) 774-7836 or mwhiting@firstnations.org

MEDIA CONTACT: Randy Blauvelt, First Nations Senior Communications Officer (303) 774-7836 or rblauvelt@firstnations.org

SOURCE First Nations Development Institute

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/09/5807603/first-nations-development-institute.html#storylink=cpy

American Indian College Fund Receives $310,000 from USA Funds

Source: Native News Network

DENVER – The American Indian College Fund is excited to announce it has received a total of the $310,000 from USA Funds.

USA Funds, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, has provided $200,000 for American Indian scholarships for 200 students attending a tribal college and university and $110,000 to sponsor the American Indian College Fund’s Flame of Hope Gala and provide marketing support for other scholarship fundraising efforts. USA Funds has supported the College Fund for more than a decade.

“USA Funds has been a key partner with the American Indian College Fund. Their support helps to ensure that American Indian students with great financial need have the opportunity to earn a college education, enriching their lives and those of their families, while allowing them to contribute to the betterment of their communities,”

said Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with USA Funds to increase access to a college education for Native people.”

“A postsecondary education not only benefits the individual, but the society as a whole through increased tax revenues and charitable giving, to name just a couple of the many benefits,”

says William D. “Bill” Hansen, USA Funds president and CEO.

“USA Funds continues to support the American Indian College Fund because no other organization provides greater scholarship support for Native American students as they pursue their postsecondary education dreams and work to improve the quality of life for themselves and the communities in which they live and work.”

Teen Nights return to the Schack Art Center

 Herald staff
October 8, 2013
 
Hot Shop glass blowing at Everett Schack Art CenterPhoto from Schack.org
Hot Shop glass blowing at Everett Schack Art Center
Photo from Schack.org

 

EVERETT — The open studio nights for teens returns this week to the Schack Art Center with the first one happening from 6-8 p.m. Thursday.

The free, after-hours events at the center at 2921 Hoyt Ave. include up to four different hands-on art projects where teens get to meet and work with local artists, as well as refreshments and glassblowing demonstrations.

Projects at this week’s event include “Neon Oil Pastel Leaves” with Colleen Temple, “Bird Masks” with Anna Mastronardi Novak and printmaking with Bonnie AuBuchon.

Schack Teen Nights started in fall 2011 as a way for local teens to learn about the Schack Art Center’s programs and classes. The studio nights with hands-on, take-away projects have been popular in the past.

The Schack Art Center is an admission free, visual arts center in downtown Everett featuring art exhibits from locally and internationally known professional artists, as well as emerging young talents. It features a state-of the-art glass blowing studio that allows the public to watch local artists work.

For more information, go to www.schack.org.

University of Oregon’s 2013 Native American art show

 

1 native american art - Mecca

 
October 9, 2013
 uoregon.edu

 

 

 

 

 

Current and former UO students from tribes throughout Oregon are showing their artwork in the 2013 Native American Art Show, on display through the month of October at the Many Nations Longhouse, 1630 Columbia St.

A public reception to meet the artists will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

Shayleen Macy, a Wasco member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, is a current UO student working on a bachelor of fine arts degree in printmaking. In addition to her formal art education, she continues to practice traditional/tribal arts and, since coming to the UO, has taken up an interest in business and Indian languages.

Through her art, Macy explores identity as a contemporary Indian woman facing social, environmental and cultural issues. She also incorporates traditional Wasco stories into some of her pieces, such as “The Elk, the Hunter, and His Greedy Father,” and “Coyote Frees the Fish.” Her art sometimes evokes the stories’ traditional meanings and at other times, she uses the story as a metaphor for contemporary issues.

In “Mecca” (shown above), Macy explores the place on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation on the Deschutes River where she grew up and lived with her grandparents and extended family.

“The piece is a contemporary version of a traditional native art form of bead applique on hand-stitched buckskin purses, which women carry at gatherings as a part of our traditional regalia,” she says.

Beyond college, Macy plans to pursue a career as an advocate for the arts and languages of the Warm Springs Tribes, as well as continue a relationship with the community that is based on education and service.

“I hope to be able to be involved with opportunities within my community that promote the languages and arts,” she says.

Macy and other artists will be at the reception for the 2013 Native American Art Show, at the Many Nations Longhouse.

– from the Office of Equity and Inclusion

Amherst College Acquires Rare Native Book Collection

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

According to a release by Amherst College it is the “most complete collection of Native American literature and history in existence,” and it’s now at the college’s Frost Library in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The collection includes items ranging from religious pamphlets from before the United States existed to first-edition crime by noted novelist Martin Cruz Smith.

“This collection is significant because it is a collection of works written by Native Americans,” College Librarian Bryn Geffert said in a story about the collection. “It presents a unique opportunity for Native American Studies scholars here at Amherst and elsewhere to mine the most complete collection ever compiled by a single collector.”

The Younghee Kim-Wait ’82 Pablo Eisenberg Collection, so named to honor the financial support of alumna Younghee Kim-Wait, who helped make acquiring the collection possible.

The 32 boxes holding some 1,500 volumes written from the 1700s to the 21st century astounded Native American Studies scholars at Amherst, who began the task of unpacking the boxes.

“Since the collection arrived, it is difficult to describe how it has felt—like suddenly being amidst a seemingly infinite living sea, a literary and intellectual tradition that I have been studying and teaching, immersed in, my whole life,” said Lisa Brooks, associate professor of English and American Studies at Amherst College, and co-chair of the Five Colleges Native American Indian Studies program, in the college’s story.

“It is one thing to know it exists, to write about the authors, the networks between them, to teach them in classes, to once in a while, hold a first edition, signed by the author, in your hands,” Brooks added. “It is another to experience that immersion, physically surrounded by these books—some of them hundreds of years old, in perfect condition—and to see that vast network all around you, to visibly see the connections between them, to hold one book after the other in your hands, the pages opening before you, inviting you to know, to understand more.”

It’s been emotional for Kiara Vigil, an assistant professor of American Studies at Amherst.

“I was brought to tears upon finding an original handbook of the Constitutional by-laws for the National Council of American Indians, created and founded by Gertrude Bonnin in 1926,” Vigil said in the story. “Bonnin’s life and writings are central to my first book on turn-of-the-20th-century Native intellectuals. As far as I know no other archival collection, including those that have Bonnin’s personal papers, have a copy of this particular document.”

Michael Kelly, director of archives and special collections at Amherst, says the collection has got it all—even hundreds of items you won’t find at Harvard or Yale.

“The comprehensive nature of the collection is what makes it special. We have the Native American authors you’ve heard of and for every Native American author you’ve heard of there are two dozen you haven’t heard of whose books we also now have,” Kelly said in the story.

See a full list of the collection here.

And the collection is already being incorporated in the curriculum. Brooks plans on teaching a course focused on Native American literature and intellectual traditions, and Vigil is planning a seminar course called History of the Native Book.

Read the full story by Amherst College’s Peter Rooney, here.

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/08/amherst-college-acquires-rare-native-book-collection-151652

Tahoma School District Second Graders Tour Tribal Life Trail

 

Sep 25, 2013.
By Janet Muniz VoiceoftheValley.com

 

Tribal life trail totem
Tribal life trail totem

Maple Valley, WA – As the Earth fully embraces the fall change of season this week, the Arboretum welcomes second grade students from Rock Creek for their annual field trip.

The students are studying Native American culture, which includes a tour of the Tribal Life Trail led by a Master Gardener, native plant rubbings led by Arboretum volunteers, and story time led by teachers as part of the curriculum.

A project of the Washington State University Extension Master Gardeners with the support of the Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation and the Tahoma School District, the trail lets visitors experience nature through the eyes of native peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Educational signs describe how plants found along the trail were used in daily life for food, medicine, utility, clothing and ceremony.

“I am always impressed by the kids’ interest in learning about how Native Americans used the plants,” says Arboretum Garden Manager Susan Goodell, who volunteers on the field trips, along with Master Gardeners Ursula Paine, who also coordinates the event, and Ankie Strohes.

Goodell says the students also enjoy identifying native plants by the leaves, then making a rubbing on paper.

Visit LakeWildernessArboretum.org, emailinfo@lakewildernessarboretum.org or call 253-293-5103 to volunteer or donate.