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Category: Tulalip News
December 24, 2014 Tulalip See-Yaht-Sub
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It’s not about winning it’s about teamwork
Lady Hawk #3 Myrna Redleaf
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
TULALIP – Fifteen-year-old Myrna Redleaf can easily be described as the most athletic player on the Lady Hawks team, evidenced by her strong baseline drives and her speed. Although a dual athlete playing both volleyball and basketball, winning isn’t what she is about. Sure she loves the glory that comes with winning, but she’s about being there for her team.
When asked why she chooses to play both sports she said, “I like both sports. I like to switch on and off.”
Redleaf has been playing basketball since 8th grade. Now in 10th grade at Heritage High School, she is in her second season as a Lady Hawk. In the 2013-2014 basketball season, Redleaf started as a point guard. That season her team would have an incredible record 22 wins and 4 losses, only meeting their toughest opponent during the trip-district championship games in the Neah Bay Red Devils. This year, Redleaf is one of few returning players and considered a veteran on the team.
Redleaf says she is still getting used to the switch of playing style between the two sports. “I get nervous when a lot of girls come at me. It is hard.” Unlike volleyball where physical contact isn’t part of the sport, basketball can have a lot of physical contact. When players make a drive down the court during an offensive play to go up to make a shot, a lot of contact can occur.
This season is off to a rough start as the Lady Hawks adjust to building the team camaraderie that it had last year. Many of the players on last season’s team graduated or switched schools. Redleaf explains the loss of key players, such as Katia Brown, Adiya Jones and Kalea Tyler, can be felt, but she is hopeful that this season will be great.
Despite feeling nervous to step in the spotlight and test her skills as a leader, Redleaf credits the mentoring style of coaching she receives with new Lady Hawks head coach, Cyrus “Bubba” Fryberg. “Last year there were a lot of good girls on the team so we didn’t go over as many drills as we are this year. I think more one-on-one is helping me.”
Dedicated and focused on and off the court, Redleaf, who’s favorite subject in school is math, says playing basketball has helped her focus and build confidence on the court as well as in school. “It helps me work as a team and communicate my thoughts.”
Her goal this season? Play hard and get a lot of shots in. As a scoring point guard, her main goal is to distribute the ball and get the players involved while also having to score, which means she has to have a good long shot, something she practices daily. “I practice a lot! I am still working on my long shots.” Her concerns are, “mainly shooting and handling the ball.” Despite playing one of the toughest games this season against Grace Academy, where the Lady Hawks were only able to score four points to Grace’s 49 and had over 20 turnovers, Redleaf is looking forward to meeting them on the court again.
“Grace was a tough game. There is a lot of stuff that we need to work on but other than that, we hustled pretty well during that game. I am looking forward to playing them again, or Highland Christian,” said Redleaf with her signature smile. “You just keep going. This is probably rock bottom and the only place we can go from here is up.”
Redleaf plans to attend college after high school to study business. She hopes to work in the human services field with the Tulalip Tribes.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
MSD meeting discusses future of MPHS cafeteria
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
MARYSVILLE – “Our community has been shaken, shaken very hard by the events of October 24,” said new Recovery Directory Mary Schoenfeldt for the Marysville School District during a community meeting held on December 11, at Cedarcrest Middle School.
The meeting featured two topic agendas. For the first hour parents learned how to help their children process grief during the holidays. The remainder of the meeting focused on the future of the Marysville-Pilchuck High School cafeteria. Parents were able to voice their opinions during mini breakout sessions on what the school district should do to move forward.
The cafeteria was the location where 15-year-old Tulalip tribal member, Jaylen Fryberg, shot six students, killing five including himself. Since the October 24 incident the cafeteria has remained closed out of respect for students and the victims of the shooting. Now the school district is holding surveys asking the Marysville/Tulalip communities what they would like the future of the cafeteria to entail.
Before the breakout sessions, Schoenfeldt spoke to parents about depression and warning signs to look for in their children as the process of grief continues. “Your children will have a loss of concentration leading to short tempers or quick tempers. Watch for signs of grieving and depression in your children as suicide can become an issue.”
Schoenfeldt explained that students might have a hard time coping with the range of emotions that they are experiencing and may not know how to begin a conversation about how they are feeling. Many parents discussed the apprehension their children feel while at the school and trying to settle back into a routine. One mother expressed that her daughter texts frequently throughout the day as a way to cope and that she does not want to eat lunch at the school.
“Acknowledge that you are also having a hard time coping with your feelings. Acknowledging it with your child helps to make it a topic for discussion. Be available emotionally to your kids to listen to them,” said Schoenfeldt.
Following a brief Q&A with Schoenfeldt, parents were then invited to share their thoughts regarding the status of the cafeteria, which was built in 1970. The school district is seeking state funding to help rebuild the cafeteria.
Students temporarily are eating in the gym. “Right now we are just talking, where do we want the kids to eat? It can’t keep being at the gym forever,” said Dr. Becky Berg, Marysville School District Superintendent.
To decide if the cafeteria should be completely torn down or remodeled, the district had the community participate in a Thoughtexchange survey on the district’s website. “The intent is to get all our voice to the table and also include the students’ voices,” said Berg. The survey, which closed December 12, will be presented to the board.
“The intent of tonight, at this point, is to use these breakout sessions for those who haven’t been online yet and discuss possibilities that we haven’t considered,” said Berg.
Many participants expressed they would like to see the cafeteria radically changed in appearance so it would not be such a visible reminder of the October 24 event. Other suggestions included building in a new location, building in a contingency area or simply tearing it down.
The district is currently reviewing the surveys and waiting for funding approval. Berg remarked that while changes will take some time, it is being fast tracked for the students. “This will not be an overnight process. We are all first timers at this and hopefully last timers at this. Let’s keep talking and supporting each other.”
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
Hawks continue home game winning streak, 76-63
By Tulalip News staff
TULALIP – Heritage Hawks played the Orcas Christian Saints last night on their home turf and handed the Saints a crushing loss, 76-63.
Lady Hawks take loss ingame against Orcas Christian, 17-49
By Tulalip News staff
TULALIP – Heritage Lady Hawks hosted the Orcas Christian Saints last night and took a loss. 17-49, despite playing one of their best quarters this season.
“It’s hard playing with only five girls. I woke up this morning thinking we should just forfeit this game, but I thought no,” said Cyrus “Bubba” Fryberg, Lady Hawks head coach. “That second quarter was the best we’ve looked all season. We played it well. We just have to keep it going.”
Tulalip Heritage – 0 10 5 2 — 17
Orcas Christian – 13 11 17 8 — 49
Honoring Those Who Help Our People in Recovery, Dec. 20
December 17, 2014 Tulalip See-Yaht-Sub
Click the highlighted link below to download the December 17, 2014 Tulalip See-Yaht-Sub
Click here to download Dec 17 SYS
Tribal history and culture to be taught at all MSD schools
MSD adopts Since Time Immemorial curriculum during regular board meeting
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
MARYSVILLE – The work to correct history began long before the Marysville School Board met on December 8, to vote on adopting accurate tribal history and culture via the Since Time Immemorial curriculum into their district schools. The idea was first introduced by then newly elected Rep., John McCoy (D-Tulalip), in HB 1495 on January 26, 2005. The bill proposed requiring school districts to offer tribal history and culture along with Washington State and United States history curriculum. It passed 78-18 in the House on March 9, 2005. However, since then school districts have lagged in offering accurate tribal history on the 29 federally recognized tribes located in Washington state. On December 8, MSD decided to unanimously pass adopting the Since Time Immemorial curriculum as part of required curriculum in all their schools.
“This is awesome. This is a big district and to have a school board adopt it means a lot to us at the Native Office of Education, us as Indian people, and the people who created it. This is a great thing, because they are saying how important it is to start teaching about our history and our culture,” said Denny Hurtado, the outgoing Director of Washington Office of Native Education, following the vote.
STI is the result of partnership between the State of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, private and public agencies and several of the 29 federal recognized tribes in Washington state. The curriculum provides a basic framework of Indian history and understanding of sovereignty for grades k-12. Aligned with the Common Core standards for English, language and art, STI lessons can be adapted by teachers to reflect the specific histories of tribes in their local area.
Teachers Shana Brown from the Seattle School District who is of Yakima dependency, Jerry Price, a middle school teacher with the Yelm School District and Elese Washines, an educator in the Yakima Nation Tribal schools, developed the curriculum under the leadership of Hurtado. STI was designed not just for non-Native students, but also for Native students. Its purpose, explained Hurtado to MSD board members, is to breakdown Native American stereotypes and misconceptions and to build bridges between tribal communities and non-Native communities.
“All they [students] know about us is what they learned in school, which is very little, and what you see on TV, which is not true, and what you read about during Columbus Day and Halloween,” Hurtado said before the vote. “I didn’t want this curriculum to seem like it was just an Indian thing. This was a true partnership to develop something good for our school to use. The purpose is to build bridges between our community and your community. That is a big point for us Indian people, because we have a lot of mistrust of the education system because our first experience of education was the military boarding schools.”
Over 1,000 teachers have received STI training by the Washington State Office of Native Education and 30 percent of school districts in Washington are using STI curriculum in some shape or form. Montana, Oregon and Alaska have also adopted STI curriculum in their school districts, and currently the Seattle School Board is looking into implementing it into their schools.
Matt Remle, a Lakota Native from the Standing Rock Reservation and Native American Liaison with MSD, who was present for the voting, said the change was long overdue. Fellow liaison, Eliza Davis, Tulalip tribal member, said the history of her own Tribe was lacking during her high school education.
“I graduated from Marysville-Pilchuck High School. I remember in Washington State history we watched the movie “Appaloosa.” That is what I remember of Washington State history. I don’t remember learning a whole lot about our Indian people or about Tulalip Tribes. I support the curriculum 100 percent. It is so important for our kids, all of our kids, and the whole community to understand the true history of all Washington Tribes, and also the history of Tulalip, Marysville, and what Tulalip does for this community as a whole. I think adopting this curriculum is the right direction.”
“I am excited for this day. I am excited about this and I am ready to approve this. We should have had this a long time ago,” said MSD board member Chris Nation right before the unanimous vote.
For more information on STI, please visit the website www.indian-ed.org.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
Annual Men’s Health Fair, Dec 12
