Category: Top Story

Tulalip Heritage High School Receives Accreditation

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News 

Tulalip Heritage High School recently received accreditation through AdvancED, an accrediting agency comprised of educators who conduct on-site external reviews of Pre K-12 schools. The education accreditation procedure is a yearlong voluntary process in which a school becomes a certified institution by meeting a set of external standards of quality. Due to successfully completing the process, Tulalip Heritage has been granted accreditation for the next five years.

Tulalip Heritage was previously accredited under Marysville-Pilchuck, the recent accreditation now recognizes Heritage as its own school and by doing so, the high school has the opportunity to thrive on its own, as well as provide a fresh outlook for potential students and their families. On the evening of Wednesday August 30, Tulalip Heritage celebrated their accreditation with the Tulalip community at the Francis J. Sheldon Gym.

“It’s really a huge accomplishment for us, as a school, to receive this accreditation,” states Tulalip Heritage High School Principal, Shelly Lacy. “We’re accredited through AdvancED, they have accredited over 34,000 schools nationally and we actually scored ten points higher than their average. A lot of times we hear in the community that Tulalip Heritage is an alternative school, that we’re less than. This accreditation tells them no, we meet the same standards; as a matter of fact, we exceed those standards.

Tulalip Heritage High School Principal, Shelly Lacy.

“It took us a year to get ready,” she continues. “[AdvancED] were at our school for three days and spent over a week looking at all of our data. They came in and did interviews with the students, parents and staff; and also observed the classrooms. We learned a lot through the process, [the accreditation] is good for five years and is an ongoing process where we continue to work with them to improve our instruction so that we make sure that our students receive the best education that they can receive.”

The accreditation celebration allowed parents and students a chance to fill out paperwork for the upcoming school year. Heritage also provided dinner, a spaghetti-bar buffet by Olive Garden, as well as entertainment as many Tulalip Heritage Alumni took to the basketball court to compete in a full four-quarter game against the current Heritage High School student-athletes.

“When we thought about celebrating the accreditation, we wanted to include all of our alumni because they are who made our school important. They came and did their best work here and then they continue to come back. They come back to support the athletes, they come back to volunteer at our school. So, we wanted to make sure we included them and the best way is through their love to play sports.

“The one thing we’re most excited about is this year’s graduating class will receive the first-ever Tulalip Heritage High School diploma, we’re really excited about that,” Shelly expresses. “We’re in the process of designing the new diplomas. They will say Tulalip Heritage High School and will include our logo and probably a picture of our school. We thank the Tribe for their support because we couldn’t offer our students what we offer without the Tribe’s support. We can offer P.E., have a full-time counselor and a full-time principal because the Tribe supports us, so that we can make sure our kids have everything they need to graduate and be successful in college and their future careers.”

A Step in the Right Direction

Tulalip community participates in International Overdose Awareness Day

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News 

The opioid and heroin crisis has continued to escalate over recent years in America. The state of Washington sees approximately three-thousand deaths annually due to drug abuse, according to the Washington State Department of Health. In Snohomish County there are nearly seven-hundred drug-related causalities per year, with the largest amount of overdoses occurring in the Everett-Marysville-Tulalip area. A recent study conducted by the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute shows that thirty-one percent of deaths statewide can be credited to drug overdose.

International Overdose Awareness Day is held each year on August 31 to bring attention to the drug epidemic, educate community members and remember the loved ones who have fallen to their addiction. This year the Tulalip community participated in International Overdose Awareness Day with the Fed Up? Wake Up! Overdose Awareness event hosted by the Tulalip Community Health Department.

“One of the important things that Community Health believes in and wants to bring to the community is meeting the people right where they are,” explains Tulalip Community Health Nurse, Suzanne Carson. “This event is to share with community members what they can do to educate themselves about the overdose problem; what overdoses look like, what withdrawal looks like, what the risk factors are – that kind of education, so they know what they’re looking at when they see someone who is struggling.

“We also want to acknowledge those loved ones who we have lost to an overdose and the lives that have been affected by an overdose,” she continues.  “An overdose not only affects the person who took the drugs, but everybody in the community. The hearts are impacted every time the community loses or almost loses somebody and our goal is to give the community a chance to reflect on the lives that have been affected.”

Internationally, people are encouraged to show support by wearing purple and silver on Overdose Awareness Day. A trail of shoes, spray-painted purple and silver, were lined from Marine Drive, alongside Totem Beach Road, leading to the new Tulalip Community Health Department.  According to Suzanne, each shoe on the ‘trail of empty shoes’ symbolizes a life lost or a life affected by an overdose.

In 2014, the Tulalip Tribes adopted a Good Samaritan aw, the Lois Luella Jones law, which shields addicts from arrest and prosecution when reporting an overdose. Sergeant William Santos of the Tulalip Police Department and Tulalip tribal member Rico Jones-Fernandez were in attendance to speak to the community about the law. In 2011, Lois Luella Jones lost her life to an overdose. Authorities believe she could’ve been revived, however her peers did not call for medical assistance, fearing they would be arrested. Her son Rico created the Good Samaritan law and has since dedicated his life to raising overdose awareness in the community by running the Tulalip Clean Needle Exchange Program.

During the event, community members painted rocks, in dedication to those who lost their life to an overdose, and placed them in the Remembrance Rock Garden, located in front of the Community Health Department. Many of the rocks in the Remembrance Garden display the names of overdose victims as well as personal messages from the community members. Tulalip community member and Yakima tribal member, Scott Rehume, explained the story behind the rock he designed for his brother, Kevin.

“I just went to his funeral the other day,” he emotionally states. “When they said he passed away, I asked how – they said he OD’ed on heroin. He never even messed with it before, at the beginning of his usage he ends up doing too much and dying. When I came back to Tulalip from the funeral, I saw they had this overdose awareness event, so I decided to show up and make him a rock.”

The event concluded with a Naloxone training to better equip community members with the knowledge of how to revive someone who has overdosed.

“Naloxone is the opioid antagonist,” says Suzanne. “The receptors in the brain that opioids and heroin bind to, Naloxone goes in there and kicks them of those receptors so that the opioid is out of their system immediately. It’s what can save a life when somebody is overdosing. By taking the training, Tulalip tribal members are sent home with a free Naloxone kit that they can use to save a life.”

The Fed Up? Wake Up! event brought valuable information to the Tulalip community. Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman, Marie Zackuse, believes that events like the Overdose Awareness are a step in the right direction during these trying times of the opioid and heroin epidemic.

“When this affects your family member, you become helpless,” Marie expresses. “You don’t know what to do because you love them and you want to be able to help them, but you lose the ability to figure out what you can do to help – these types of get-togethers can help us. Seeing the flyer brought me to bring my daughter and we’re hoping to bring more family members together to just talk about it, because it is hard to talk about and we need to be able to support one another.

“I’m so thankful for the staff that brought this all together because it shows that we do care for our members,” continued Marie. “Each and every one of our families in this community are affected and we don’t want to lose one more person, because that person is our child, our grandchild. If we can all come together and take back our community, we can save some lives.”

Huckleberry Harvesters

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

The gate to swədaʔx̌ali huckleberry fields was opened from August 25 to September 10, allowing tribal members a two-week window to walk in the shadows of their ancestors and harvest the elusive mountain huckleberry. Traditionally, the end of summer meant an annual trek of berry picking parties into the high regions of the Cascade Mountains to harvest the rare and sought after dark maroon huckleberries.

Mountain huckleberries are larger than the lowland evergreen variety and are more delicately flavored. They are found on high sunny slopes at about 5,000 feet elevation, and ripen towered the latter part of August and into early September. Fortunately, the Tulalip Tribes and its Natural Resources team has invested countless man hours and resources into a co-stewardship area located within the Skykomish Watershed, a place where our ancestors once resided. This pristine co-stewardship area allows tribal members to learn and practice traditional teachings in an ancestral space called swədaʔx̌ali (Lushootseed for “place of mountain huckleberries”).

Over Labor Day weekend, a number of Tulalips used the holiday to undertake the 2-hour journey to swədaʔx̌ali and spend a day breathing the fresh mountainous air while berry picking under the summer sun. Among the harvesters was first-time berry picker and Lushootseed language teacher Maria Martin.

“It was a beautiful, uplifting experience. Once we hit the forest, where there were no buildings, no cars, no people, just trees…my soul soared. I couldn’t not smile,” reflects Maria on her time at swədaʔx̌ali. “I’ve read and heard stories of people out picking berries and I always wondered how that felt. I didn’t grow up doing traditional things. I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak my language, but that is only a piece of my culture.

“Berry picking felt natural, like I’ve always done it. The smells were intoxicating. The sounds beautiful, from the buzzing bugs and chirping birds to the families sharing laughs and love. These are the meaningful experiences that we all need to share in. While I was picking I told myself the story of “Owl lady and Chipmunk”, and sang Martha Lamont’s berry picking song; connecting the pieces of my culture, my words with my actions I felt whole. When I returned home I gave away a batch of my berries to an elder, which was very meaningful to me. Those that can hunt and gather are responsible for gathering enough for those that cannot. We are all family and we all are responsible for taking care of one another.”

Several tribal members who recently returned from Canoe Journey also used Labor Day to pick mountain huckleberries, including George Lancaster, Shane McLean and Dean Pablo. George brought up his nephew Brutal and his aunt Lynette Jimicum so they could soak up the experience as well.

“It’s awesome having the opportunity to be up here,” says George. “Being up here, I remembered blackberry picking with my grandma as a kid and that made me happy. I look forward to using my harvested berries to make pie. I love pie!”

“I absolutely love being here,” adds Lynette. “Having my grandson Brutal here and being able to teach him that there’s more activities than just playing video games. It means a lot to me to show him the value of outdoor activities, like berry picking and hiking in the woods.”

For tribal member Shane McLean, his thoughts have been impacted by the ongoing natural disasters like the droughts plaguing the Pacific Northwest and raging forest fires throughout the region causing smoke and ash to cloud the skies.

“My short-term goal is to give some berries away, my long-term goal is to get a four year supply. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the prophecy telling us to be prepared for the future,” states Shane. “It’s said you should have four years of your traditional food stored away, just in case there’s something that might happen. We can see there’s natural disasters happening all over. I’m thankful the berries are even here to be harvested.”

Eighth Generation Celebrates One Year Anniversary

Louie Gong with hummingbird print.

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News

In the late summer of 2016, Nooksack artist Louie Gong opened the doors of his ‘Inspired Natives not Native Inspired’ brick and mortar shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, located directly above the tourist-favorite gum wall. After several years of independently grinding and selling his traditional yet contemporary artwork online, Louie decided to bring authentic Native American art to the masses by opening Eighth Generation and by doing so, he began to break stereotypes. In a world where big-name companies such as Forever 21, Urban Outfitters and Pendleton often appropriate Native designs, Louie took control by becoming one of the only Native-owned retailers selling authentically made Coast Salish art in the entire nation.

Louie has journeyed a long way since first making his mark in the fashion scene by taking a Sharpie to pair of Vans shoes and mixing traditional and urban art together. Since then, he has used his platform to empower and promote fellow Indigenous artists and has become one of the most prominent voices in the Native American community. Many tribal nations across the United States often gift   wool blankets to community members and leaders during traditional ceremonies. Blanketing honored guests is a tradition in Native America that has been practiced for centuries. These blankets were almost exclusively Pendleton but now tribes have the opportunity to support Louie’s movement during potlatches, powwows and many other tribal events.

On Saturday August 26, Eighth Generation celebrated their one-year anniversary by hosting an open house at their storefront. Tribal members from across the nation, including Ahousaht, Quinault and Lummi attended the event to show support for Louie and Eighth Generation.  The event featured a giveaway of several Eighth Generation products including blankets, soap, a limited number of signed Louie Gong Hummingbird prints as well as an original Louie Gong framed art piece valued at $1,200. During the event, Louie took a moment to reflect on the success of Eighth Generation throughout this past year.

“We’ve been open for a year and I feel like I’m at the end of a marathon,” he expresses. “When we launched it wasn’t time to rest, it was really time to put our nose to the grindstone and work even harder than the time leading up to the launch. Now that we’ve been open for a year and gone through all the different lessons that we had to learn, many of them the hard way, I feel like its finally time to take a deep breath, reflect on what we’ve learned over the last year and recalibrate to do even better next year. I feel like I’ve finally reached a time of reflection so I’m going to take some time away and think about how to move forward in a strategic way and how to continue scaling up Eighth Generation in a way that’s consistent with our values and our long-term vision. Not just creating opportunities for ourselves but also creating opportunities for other cultural artists and other community-based Native people.”

Central District Ice Cream Company  debuted eight new tasty ice cream treats at the celebration.

For the celebration, Eighth Generation collaborated with a local Native-owned business, the Central District Ice Cream Company, to debut eight new tasty ice cream treats: Hummingbird Huckleberry, Seattle Freeze (deep chocolate ice cream with Salish Sea salt and almond cookie crumble), Horchata De La Raza, COOL καψə? (nettle mint ice cream with chocolate chips), Genmaicha, Wunder Beer, Chica Fresca and Sleepy Dragon (lychee and lavender ice cream).  The Eighth Generation team also created artwork for each ice cream flavor.

“There’s no better way for us to celebrate the work that Eighth Generation does than by collaborating with another Native-owned company,” Louie states. “Over the course of last year, we were fortunate to become aware of Central District Ice Cream and the fact that they’re also Native-owned. We teamed up to create eight unique ice cream flavors that we launched today at our one-year celebration. It was the perfect way to act in a way consistent with Coast Salish and Northwest Coast teachings around how to conduct a celebration, but to also do it in a way that reflects the light-heartedness and contemporary nature of Eighth Generation. By incorporating traditional ingredients into the ice cream, including some medicines, it was a way for us to do what I try to do with my art, which is to make cultural teachings and ideas relevant to contemporary life.”

After a successful first year, Eighth Generation continues to inspire Native artists and break stereotypes. For further information and to view the Eighth Generation catalog, please visit www.EighthGeneration.com or visit the store in person at 93 Pike Street Seattle, WA 98101.

Frequent Vibrationz

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

“What are you vibing on?” To 24-year-old tribal member Jack Peterson, this simple question has come to represent his aspirational journey from a wishful teenager growing up in one of Spokane’s poorest neighborhoods to an entrepreneurial twentysomething riding a wave of cannabis legalization.

Born on the Tulalip Reservation, Jack relocated to Spokane when he was only 2-years-old to live with a surrogate family because of his biological parents’ struggle with substance abuse. Considered home to the lower class of Spokane, the Hillyard neighborhood is where he spent most of his formative years being raised by a loving, stable family.

“I got separated from the Tulalip Reservation at such a young age, but I feel like the Tribe has always been there for me offering assistance and support with school and activity costs,” says Jack. “I grew up knowing I was Tulalip, but lacked the appropriate understanding of the culture. I’ve always felt this missed attachment to my homeland, especially with all these questions I had like what kind of people were my biological parents and who my family was on the reservation.”

As a teenager Jack went to Rogers High School where he consistently made honor roll and became an active participant in DECA (a high school student-based organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, and management). The business concepts and skills he learned in DECA would spark a burning passion to become a manager or owner of his own business one day.

In 2011, after graduating high school, he attended UW Seattle for a year to study pre-Medicine. Although the thought of aiding and possibly curing people’s pains medically meant a lot to him, the pull to the business world was just too strong. So Jack transferred to Eastern University after being accepted into the business program. While attending Eastern as a full-time student, he moonlighted as an assistant for friend’s cannabis grow operation. What started as a side job to make a little extra money for school and pay bills quickly got Jack’s entrepreneurial mind tinkering with all kinds of ideas.

The grow operation was small-scale, only growing about 10 plants or so, but they started growing concentrates and selling them to local medical shops. In the summer of 2015, Washington State legalized cannabis for recreational use and Jack jumped on the opportunity to become a budtender, a person who serves customers at cannabis shops, at a recreational shop called Greenlight.

The knowledge gained from not only growing and selling cannabis, but from interacting with shop owners and large-scale growers became instrumental. With the level of experience he now had and witnessing what was happening in the cannabis industry first-hand, young Jack’s mind turned to grand plans. The experience fueled a now burning passion to open a business of his own, as he foreshadowed a potential boom in the Oregon recreational market.

“Working at the Greenlight shop provided me with so much invaluable experience into the cannabis industry. When news broke that Oregon was getting ready to legalize recreational cannabis I knew that was my best opportunity to open a business of my own while being able to capitalize on a new, growing market,” reflects Jack on a time when Washington State was seeing a lot of competition with so many recreational shops opening their doors.

So in July 2016, Jack and his wife, Courtney Peterson, packed up everything they owned and moved to Eugene, Oregon hoping to pioneer a new market. Riding the cannabis legalization wave meant leaving everything he knew behind, but also meant Jack would have the best opportunity to achieve his long held belief he’d run a business of his own someday.

After months of sheer determination and grinding to find the perfect location to open his business and to raise enough funds to cover start-up operating expenses, Jack and co-owner Brandon opened the doors to Eugene’s first 100% recreational cannabis retail shop on November 11, 2016. Its name: Frequent Vibrationz.

“The meaning of the shop’s name comes from our desire to help you the customer find your good vibe as frequently as possible. Whether your vibe is something more relaxing to help with pain or an illness, or your vibe is something to get you happy and help socialize with friends, we can help you to reach where you want to be,” explains Jack. “Right now our slogan is #VibeOn. It’s something people can wear or say in public that doesn’t scream pot or marijuana, but still connects our customers to us. It’s developed from us saying every time a customer leaves “vibe on!” to customers saying “Hey, vibe on!” when they enter the store.

“It’s something that’s taken on a life of its own now, it describes a lifestyle. #VibeOn is much more than being about just a cannabis product, it’s being active, being a professional, or being a business person and still using cannabis on a daily basis to reach your optimal vibe.”

Over the nine months since it first opened, Frequent Vibrationz has earned a committed and loyal following because of the focus on quality and customer service. With repeat business as a key component to a recreational shop’s long-term success, the “Vibe Guides” at Frequent Vibrationz provide an experience and lifestyle over just selling product.

Amy Lee of stonermag.com states, “Co-owners Jack and Brandon have opened a dispensary that on all level succeeds in bringing their personalized and relationship-driven vision to [the customer]. It’s the knowledge of the staff that really brings people back again and again. The layout of the place is very welcoming. Frequent Vibrationz is a dispensary with no lobby, there’s no waiting and no entering your ID into a database. We loved the convenience of that. Making this a stop in your journey to finding the right Vibez is highly recommended.”

Jack has made it a point to give back to the Eugene community since its home to his dream come true. The staff of Frequent Vibrationz have performed a number of community outreach efforts, including trash clean-up days, holding several charity drives for the local humane society and raising funds for the birds of prey foundation.

The competition continues to grow as more and more recreational shops open in Oregon, but Jack Peterson, the newly minted business owner, has little doubts he has found a winning strategy.

“We are seeing continued growth through the increased competition, and we remain the highest rated dispensary in Eugene based on our Google, Facebook, Weedmaps, and Leafly reviews,” beams Jack at the success he has found and hopes to continue. “We push forward every day with a goal to ensure our return customers are happy and continue to be treated as family. While our new customers are given the whole Frequent Vibrationz experience and welcomed to join the family. I think this unique customer experience is what has separated us from the rest, as well as our philosophy for having the highest quality products at the best prices in town.”

Frequent Vibrationz has not only allowed Jack to fulfill his lifelong ambition of running his own business, but also connects him back to his Freshman year at UW when he was focused on medicine. The list of medical uses for cannabis grows larger every day, as the medical and science community publish more and more articles on the subject. Jack shared that a large portion of his customer base are individuals who use cannabis for a variety of medicinal purposes to increase their quality of life.

“Kind of funny to think that at one time I was attending UW hoping to become a doctor so I could help people medically and now, like a doctor, I’m helping people with the healing power of cannabis,” marvels Jack. “The best example of this is a customer I’ve come to know quite well. She came in one day really interested in CBD tinctures. We sold her one and a couple weeks later she comes back and tells us her story about how she suffers from seizers, up to 6-8 per day. Treating herself with the CBD tincture she went two weeks seizure free. At twenty-eight years-old she has found a much higher quality of life, nearly seizure free with regular use of CBD tinctures. Cannabis has changed her life and it’s amazing to think I played a role in that with my business. Helping individuals manage or treat their medical issues by finding their vibe is a game changer.”

The court of public opinion on cannabis has shifted greatly in just the last couple years alone, with several States in the nation legalizing it recreationally. Referring to cannabis as medicine or a healing flower that is a much safer and natural alternative to pharmaceuticals, such as addictive pain killers, is now common place in many social circles. It’s part of the process to deconstruct the often negative and stereotypical views of cannabis, while empowering those who seek to find their optimal vibe.

To find more information on Jack and his highest rated cannabis store in Eugene, Oregon please visit https://www.frequentvibrationz.com/

Early Learning Academy goes solar

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News

A sunshine celebration ribbon cutting was held by Tulalip tribal leadership on Tuesday, August 15, to honor the many benefits of the Betty J. Taylor Early Learning Academy’s solar energy movement. In partnership with Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s Solar 4R Schools program, four 20’x14’ solar panels were installed at the learning center back in April. Since their installation they have been harnessing the power of sunlight and turning it into electricity to help power the 52,000 square-foot Early Learning Academy,

“We are so excited to be the first tribal facility to go greener,” says Sheryl Fryberg, Director of the Early Learning Academy. “We want our children to learn at a young age the importance of how to make our planet a cleaner, safer place for future generations.”

Overlooking scenic Tulalip Bay, the sunlight absorbing solar panels have a direct sightline to the most powerful source of energy in the solar system, our sun. Making further use of the life-giving and renewable energy source, the solar movement forwards the Tribe’s goals of creating a healthy, sustainable community. There is no loss of air or water quality as a result of increasing the amount of energy now available to the Early Learning Academy. In this respect, making use of renewable energy is highly compatible with Native beliefs, such as living in harmony with nature and protecting the environment.

“This solar panel project is about showing our community what’s possible with solar energy. I’m committed to renewable energy all the way and even have solar panels installed on my home,” states Bonnie Juneau, Tulalip Board of Director. “Solar energy is proven to be effective and reduces our harm to the environment. It’s phenomenal. Going forward, all of our buildings will have south-facing roofs so the panels can harness as much sunlight as possible.

“This project also gives us an opportunity to show our children what exciting things can be achieved with math and science. Teaching them about solar energy at such a young age will only help them in the future. Think about the possibilities, about what one of our children may be able to come up with in 15-20 years. I’m so excited just thinking about what is now possible.”

Indeed, the Early Learning Academy’s children have already begun learning about solar energy in fun and effective ways. Solar 4R Schools program delivers one of the most comprehensive renewable energy STEM education experiences in the nation. Through teacher training, science kits, teacher-generated activities and real-time access to energy generation data from 200+ solar systems nationwide, we are directly empowering the next generation of clean energy leaders.

“The preschool staff are thrilled to be learning new activities to teach our children,” explains Sheryl Fryberg. “They were part of an all-day training to learn how to teach their preschool children energy projects in the classroom. They learned how to build a solar energy car, bake with a solar oven and even make some Crayola shirts with a solar oven. Our children will be learning how to do these projects and we are hoping that it will spark a long term interest in them about how to do their part to save the planet.”

An underlying benefit to the Academy going solar is a reduction in utility costs, which will allow more dollars to be directed toward educational needs. The solar panel array has produced 8,767.4 kWh (kilowatt-hours of electricity) so far. Given that the school has the SNOPud general utility rate of $0.0891/kWh, the solar system has generated approximately $781.18 worth of electricity savings to date.

Located in the lobby of the Early Learning Academy is a very cool information kiosk that gives students, teachers, and visitors an in-depth look into solar electric energy generated by the panels. At any given time one can see live data in a variety of ways. Equivalency results detail the impact of conservation efforts made by using the solar panels. To date, 13,584 pounds of CO2 has been saved which is the equivalent of 14,767 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle, 6,575 pounds of coal burned, or 14.3 barrels of oil consumed.*

For more information on the Academy’s solar panel project please visit http://www.solar4rschools.org/kiosk-betty-j-taylor-early-learning-academy for live data and further renewable benefits.

*Source: https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

Year of the Woman: Tulalip Honors Lifegivers

 

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News 

Honoring Lifegivers:

The women in our community are strong. We want to acknowledge their role in strengthening our people. As grandmothers, they continue to be our first teachers, building our foundation and shaping our cultural identity. As mothers, they nurture our future generations. As daughters, they are the promise that our people, our teachings and values, and our identity will live on.

 

This past March, the Tulalip Tribes elected Marie Zackuse to serve as Chair to its Board of Directors, making her the second Chairwoman in the Tribe’s history – the first woman to hold the position since Harriette Shelton-Dover. The Tribe also elected Teri Gobin as Vice Chairwoman, giving Tulalip its first-ever female majority of the seven-person Board, as the new Chair and Vice Chair joined Bonnie Juneau and Theresa Sheldon; as well as Mel Sheldon Jr., Les Parks and Jared Parks.

Following this year’s historic election, Les made a motion for the tribe to dedicate an entire day to honor the past, present and future women of Tulalip.

“This happened right after the election in March,” Les explained. “In the first meeting of the Board, we were trying to decide amongst the seven of us, ‘how are we going to identify ourselves as the new Tulalip Board of Directors?’ To me it was obvious because I was sitting around four women, now a majority of the board. It’s really exciting times for Tulalip to know that we now have Chairwoman Marie Zackuse, Vice Chairwoman Teri Gobin, Bonnie Juneau and Theresa Sheldon serving and leading our Board of Directors. It was really apparent that this is the Year of the Woman. It is so important that we come together to celebrate women because it’s you women who made us who we are today, we could not be here without you.”

On Wednesday August 16, the Tulalip Tribes hosted Honoring Our Lifegivers at the Greg Williams Court to pay tribute to the Grandmothers of the tribal community as well as celebrate the first female majority Board of Directors. Upon the ceremony’s opening speeches, the Board showcased a video which honors many Tulalip grandmothers, many of whom passed. However, Les expressed that the video is still a work in progress as it is the Board’s wish to have all of the grandmothers of Tulalip featured in the video.

During the event, the Tribe recognized and honored the ten eldest grandmothers of the community, Blanche James, Genevieve Williams, Etta Jones, Roberta Skoog, Lavinia Carpenter, Elizabeth Penn, Katherine Elliot, Geraldine Bill, Eleanor Nielsen and Loretta James. The honored guests were encouraged to speak to the community, and many of the women shared their family history as well as advice for future generations.

“My father was one of the first loggers on this reservation,” expressed Loretta James. “He always held that title but he was a policeman too. And then I was a judge, so that goes to show that there’s a leader in each generation. My advice for the future generations: if I had a dream it would be to find a way to get rid of all the drugs on this reservation. They have hurt and taken away the lives of our people who have been far too young. I have seven children, over one-hundred grandchildren and great grandchildren who all love me dearly.”

Traditional honor songs were performed by the Tom family as well as the Tulalip Salmon Ceremony singers for the grandmothers and the four female Board members.

“It is history making for our Board to have a majority of women,” stated Chairwoman Marie Zackuse. “And it’s because of the women we are honoring today, for the women that were on the film and for the ones not mentioned who we don’t have a picture for. I’ve said many times, if it wasn’t for the men and the women who were our early leaders, who laid that foundation for us, for our youth, for the young ones sitting here today, the ones that are in our Early Learning center and for the ones that are coming still – seven generations out. On behalf of our people, we are going to continue to do this in a good way – serve for our children and for our children’s children.”

Tulalips paid respect to the many strong women of the Tribe. Several female leaders spoke to the community sharing stories, advice for the youth, as well as who their female mentors were while growing up. Many community members were moved to tears as Deborah Parker, Karen Fryberg, Marci Fryberg Johnson, Inez Bill and Tulalip Tribes General Manger, Misty Napeahi passionately spoke about both their personal experiences as well as the resiliency of past female leaders during the colonization era.

“I’m honored to serve as your General Manager, I’m also honored to say that I come from a long line of strong women,” Misty stated. “My grandma is not here in physical body but I know she’s here in spirit. Her name is Genevieve Kona Williams and I know how proud she is of the work we are doing to honor the women of our community. Women always had a rightful place in our communities but through the acts of colonization we got put behind men. That’s why I’m so grateful for today, because there’s not one stronger gender, we’re all equal. It’s the balance we bring to one another that creates a community that’s full of love, blessings and safety. I’m a strong woman because I come from a long strong line of women but I also have strong men that stand beside me.”

Board Member, Theresa Sheldon thanked the community for uniting together to honor the Lifegivers.

“Our hands go up to every single one of you who are here today to celebrate our Lifegivers, our women, our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunties, our sisters – those who gave us the foundation of who we are,” said Theresa. “To be able to celebrate the Year of the Woman means to honor those who came before us and those who set the ground for us to stand upon today. It was not easy to be a woman in leadership; today we are able to stand on the shoulders of the great women of our Tribe and say thank you. Because of your work and all of the things you’ve done, you’ve lead the path for us to be where we are today. Thank you, t’igwicid, is never enough for the love, the strength, the beauty that’s in this room right now; I feel it in my heart.”

Tulalip community celebrate National Night Out

“Let’s continue to help bring our youth and community together in a good way.”

– Josh Fryberg, Youth Services Coordinator

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

On the sizzling summer evening of Tuesday, August 1, Tulalip citizens of all ages and their neighbors came out to meet the police officers who have sworn an oath to protect and serve the community. The occasion was the 34th Annual National Night Out, free to all and held in the Tulalip Youth Center parking lot.

Tulalip Police Chief Carlos Echevarria greeted community members with a warm smile and a slice of public safety insight during the community-building event.

“The purpose of National Night Out is for the local community and law enforcement to come together against crime. Law enforcement cannot fight crime alone, we must have community support moving forward,” stated Chief Echevarria. “Under the body armor and police uniform, law enforcement officers exist as real people. Positive interactions and open conversation allows for the human side of policing to shine through and from this foundation trust is gained.”

National Night Out has been an annual occurrence since its inception in 1984. The ultimate goal is to promote police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live. Enhancing the relationship between the community’s youth and law enforcement goes a long way to bringing back a true sense of community. It also provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.

In light of it occurring on one of the hottest days of the year, dozens of families took part in the National Night Out mingling. While enjoying tasty hot dogs, green salads, and sugar treats, community members strolled through the informative safety demonstration tables. There were games and activities for the young ones to partake in, giving parents and guardians the perfect opportunity to connect with emergency personnel.

“We, along with a lot of other families, really enjoyed National Night Out. I saw a lot of smiles from the youth and community along with great information that was being provided to the people,” said Josh Fryberg, Youth Services Coordinator, who attended the evening’s activity with his family. “We want to thank Carlos and TPD for all of the work that they do for the Tulalip Tribes and community members. We’ve created a great partnership with TPD here at Youth Services with ‘pop with a cop’. It has been a great time for the youth and staff to get to know numerous TPD police officers. Let’s continue to help bring our youth and community together in a good way.”

Youth could be seen interacting with all levels of law enforcement. From meeting and petting the unit’s K9 officer, taking pics with officers for the always active social media accounts, to the youngest among them requesting a hug with a real life superhero.

Chief Echevarria says his favorite moment from National Night Out “was when a 4-year-old young lady asked me for a hug. When I kneeled down and gave her a hug then another child requested a hug as well. This type of interaction with our youth and community definitely makes us, Tulalip, unique. Very proud moment as Chief!”

Learning the business of babysitting

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

A free, daylong babysitting training class took place at the Tulalip Youth Center on Monday, August 1. Boys and girls age 11 and older learned how to perform basic child-care skills like diapering and feeding, first-aid essentials, development stages of children, helpful strategies for play activates, and the subtleties of child discipline.

An astounding thirty-eight youth showed up and participated in the daylong class. In coordination with Behavioral Health and Youth Services, the event aimed at making preteens and teenagers well-rounded caretakers was effective and made an immediate impact for several soon-to-be professional babysitters.

“We were inspired to share a class on babysitting because we wanted to focus primarily on teaching and encouraging our youth to expand their knowledge base, while teaching entrepreneurial skills to those who wished to start up a small business in the community,” states Monica Holmes, Youth Services Parapro. “Babysitting is something many kids do on a regular basis with family and close friends as they become teenagers. We wanted to arm them with the skill sets to be safe and marketable in order take their babysitting to the next step.”

Expanding the youths’ babysitting skill sets was achieved by taking advantage of those who could impart their professional knowledge on the subject, community resources who were willing to connect with the kids to make the biggest impact. Such resources included representatives from Tulalip Bay Fire and Rescue, Police Department, and Tulalip Community Health.

“I talked to the kids about safety in the home, as far as being a babysitter keeping themselves and the children they are supervising safe. We discussed the best practices for keeping kids safe in the home, protocol for answering the phone and what information should and shouldn’t be given out,” says Patrol Commander Sherman Pruitt, a 13-year veteran of the Tulalip Police Department. “We also went over how to stay prepared in the event of an emergency situation while keeping the safeguarding of their children the priority.”

Tulalip Bay Fire and Rescue taught basic first aid, choking hazards and in-home and personal fire safety. They also brought their ambulance and allowed participants to get in and ask questions. Tulalip Police Department spoke to youth about personal and home safety, like answering the door and telephone while babysitting, and what to do in the event of an emergency. Tulalip Community Health helped coordinate all the curriculum and hands-on teaching materials. Suzanne Carson LPN, was the co-presenter for the day and led various break-out sessions.

“We could have taught the class with just one or two instructors, but it seemed more enrichening to include these community partners. We wanted kids to learn from the best but also find people they could look up to or inspire to be like,” continues Monica. “Our community resources became mentors and positive examples in a large sense. It also helped to break down the barriers that sometimes exist between youth and organizations like the Police or Fire Departments.”

After each babysitter selected a baby doll of their choosing, complete with assigning it a gender and name, they were put into small groups. Through the course of the day, the thirty-eight aspiring babysitters rotated between different training stations set-up to replicate various real-life babysitting scenarios.

Instruction stations including the Potty Time Station, which featured all the supplies they’d need to properly diaper, change clothes and swaddle their infant or toddler. There was a First-Aid Kit Station that included supplies for basic first-aid in the event an emergency were to occur while babysitting. There was also a Babysitter’s Magic Bag Making Station, which included supplies, games, toys and arts-n-crafts items the youth could pack into a backpack and bring along with them to any babysitting job to keep their kids occupied and happy.

“Later in the day we designed hands-on Live Babysitting Stations where we invited community members to bring in their children ages 6-months to 10-years to be babysat by our newly minted babysitters,” explains Monica. “This is innovative to most mainstream babysitting classes in that most youth are never given a ‘trial run’ of babysitting in which staff and volunteers could observe, correct and praise their actual skills. We were so impressed with not only the maturity of the youth who attended, but also the drive and desire to take the skills they’d learned and create a real business out of them.”

At the end of the day all participating youth received a certificate of achievement and several take-home supplies to begin their very own babysitting business. Several of the youth have already developed some online advertisements for their new business. One such shining example is 11-year-old tribal member Mariana Richwine.

“I’ve been babysitting my younger sister since I can remember. Taking the babysitting class was fun and I learned a lot of tips and new information,” admits Mariana. “I learned what to do if a baby is choking and how to put a baby to sleep without being smothered by blankets. I’m more confident to babysit babies now that I know how to handle these situations.”

Since learning the added skills and importance of marketing herself as a certified, professional babysitter Mariana has created her own Facebook page titled Sissy’s babysitting service. She was joined in the babysitting class by her younger sister, 8-year-old Malana and older sister, 14-year-old Martelle. Their mother Nickie Richwine shared her impressions of the class she entrusted her three daughters to for the day.

“As soon as I learned about this training I knew my girls would be attending. They have always watched their little sister for me, and in the last two years my oldest ones started babysitting for friends and family. I knew there would be more they could learn in addition to their own experiences, and they did. I was happy to hear that our Tribal police and fire departments were also involved and taught the kids what to do in emergency situations. I feel like my girls are now well experienced and trained to babysit at any time.”

Learning from the past, looking to the future

22nd Annual Lushootseed Day Camp

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

The week of July 24-28 was nothing but pleasantly warm and sunny summer days in the Pacific Northwest. Inside the old Tulalip Elementary gymnasium even more radiating beams of sunshine could be found, created by the record turnout 92-kids participating in week two of the 22nd Annual Lushootseed Day Camp.

Open to children age five to twelve who want to learn about their culture and the language of their ancestors, Lushootseed Camp provides invaluable traditional teachings through art, songs, technology, weaving and storytelling. Each year the Lushootseed Department teams up with Cultural Resources, along with a select number of vital community volunteers, to hold two one-week day camps in the summer. Each camp is intended to have openings for up to 50 participants, but this year the demand was so high that 70-kids participated in week one and a stunning 92-kids comprised week two.

“It seems like every year we get more and more kids participating in our language camp, which is great!” boasts Michele Balagot, Lushootseed Manager. “We broke our record for total attendance that we set last year. It is amazing to witness the amount of participation and community involvement we received this year. It makes my heart happy seeing so many of our young ones learning our traditional language.”

With the extraordinary high turnout in camp participation came an equally impressive turnout in community volunteers who assisted Lushootseed staff coordinate daily camp activities. There were 25+ volunteers on a near daily basis on hand to help camp run smoothly.

“The role of the summer youth and volunteers was to be the group leaders, working alongside the youth, mentoring them and encouraging them at each station,” says Natosha Gobin, Lushootseed Teacher who has been involved with every Lushootseed Camp either as a participant or teacher for the past twenty years. “We met with the group leaders almost daily to go over their role and encourage them to be as involved with each of the kids as possible. There were three to four group leaders per group, which helped us ensure that the kids were staying on task at each station.”

Throughout the duration of camp, the children participated in seven different daily stations or activities. The following list is what each child accomplished throughout the week:

  • Art – Votive candle holders, cedar photo frame.
  • Weaving – Cedar medallions, paddle necklaces.
  • Songs and Dances – Killer Whale Song, Berry Picking Song, Welcome Song, Kenny Moses Arrival Song.
  • Traditional Teachings – Message from Wayne Williams, Killer Whale facts, story comparisons.
  • Games – Various outdoor games incorporating Lushootseed.
  • Language – Lushootseed alphabet, Killer Whale and the Two Boys key words.
  • Technology – children learned and practiced Lushootseed materials related their final performance using handheld games on Tablets created by Dave Sienko.

For this 22nd Annual Lushootseed Camp, Wayne Williams was honored for his leadership and the teachings he has passed on to our community. His story “Killer Whale and the Two Boys” was selected as the final performance to be put on at week’s end.

“This year we honored Wayne Williams for his countless years of leadership for our people,” states Michele. “Wayne knew the importance of upholding the teachings that were instilled within him and many others. He has led our community as Assistant Manager and Manager of TTT, while also having served as a Board of Director, including time as Chairman. Wayne passed on his family’s traditional artifacts and documents to the Hibulb Cultural Center, and we are grateful to have such rich teachings within reach for us to continue to learn from.”

For the youthful camp participants, learning Wayne’s story “Killer Whale and the Two Boys” serves two purposes – learning and practicing the Lushootseed words it requires, and gaining knowledge of the lesson hidden within the story.

“The moral of this story is to watch who you hang around,” explains Natosha. “If you find the people you associate with tend to get in trouble, you will realize that you will end up getting in trouble right alongside them, and there are things that may happen to you along that path that will mark you for life and be a reminder of those hard times. Messages like this from our ancestors is so important for our kids to hear, understand and to respect in their early years as they develop into young adults. We can look at many situations in our lives and connect them to traditional stories.”

The closing ceremony for week two’s camp was held on Friday, July 28 in the old Tulalip Elementary gymnasium. The joyous, young play-performers made their theatrical debut to a large community attendance, as family and friends came out in droves to show their support.

“I am honored to be here today to witness the young children sharing in the Lushootseed language. The language is the very heart of our culture as Tulalip people,” proclaimed ceremonial witness Ray Fryberg, Executive Director of Natural Resources. “I thank the parents and families who gave their kids the opportunity to participate in our language camp. Also, I thank our Language Warriors for ensuring that this portion of our culture moves forward and stays alive. Our words are life, reflecting our ancestors and passing on their teachings.”

After the youth performed their rendition of “Killer Whale and the Two Boys” and the ceremonial witnesses had shared a few words, there was a giveaway. The camp participants gave handmade crafts to each and every audience member, which preceded a buffet-style lunch that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Reflecting on the conclusion of this year’s 22nd Lushootseed Camp, Language Warrior Natosha Gobin beamed with pride, “We continue to give thanks to those who had the vision to bring this camp to life, and we are grateful to be a part of keeping it going. These two weeks out of the year are really a blessing for us to give back to our community, build relationships with our youth and their families, and remind ourselves of our roles in the community. We are Language Warriors, we are Culture Warriors, and we will battle every day to ensure our traditional teachings live on for the next generation of warriors.”

 

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Honoring Wayne Williams

Submitted by Natosha Gobin

This year we honored Wayne Williams.  His messages to our people, his leadership, his passion, it has touched so many lives and continues to do so. A couple of our staff members stepped away from camp on Monday, July 24th to visit Wayne and gift him with a paddle created by the Art & Design department, a blanket that was on behalf of the Hibulb Cultural Center staff and Lushootseed Staff, and a t-shirt from this year’s camp.

We felt it was important to gift him with these things and let him know how many youth were learning about his amazing work. It was an honor to speak to him and share that his work is still continuing with the teachings our youth are learning these two weeks.

One of Wayne’s famous quotes is “It’s important for us to know who we are and where we come from.” We are hoping to make more visits just to share with him how much he continues to inspire our people and allow each one of our staff members the chance to meet with Wayne.