Native Village 

Youth and Education News

November 3, 2004,  Issue 141  Volume 2

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money." - Cree proverb

Opening Of A New Community School On Blood Reserve In Southern Alberta 
Alberta: Saipoyi Community School has opened on the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta.  Designed to accommodate 424 students from grades K-4, SCS has multiple gathering and common areas with classrooms grouped into four pods. The gymnasium can be sectioned off from the main part of the school to become a community multipurpose facility.  Canada's Blood Tribe serves  1,900 students living in the largest First Nation community reserve (about 336,710 acres) that has the largest on-reserve population (7,384).
http://www.gatheringplacefirstnationscanews.com/breakingnews.htm

Piapot Protesters Refuse To End Sit-In Over Curriculum
Saskatchewan: Protesters involved in a sit-in at Piapot First Nations' school refused to accept legal documents from Canada's Attorney General that would force  them to leave the school. "We are going to stay in the school," said Violet Piapot. Parents and band members upset with modified math and reading programs set up a blockade at the school Oct. 12 and took over the premises. While teachers say the modified program benefits struggling students, the protesters want modified programs removed and students taught at their regular grade level. "This is not political or anything. This is about education and nothing else," said Piapot. Piapot's nine-year-old grandson was labeled a slow learner by the teaching staff, so Violet enrolled him in a Regina elementary school.  In the new school, her grandson was placed in a Grade 4-5 class. When tested, he was reading at a Grade 7 level.  "He likes it because it is more challenging," she said.
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Elders now teaching classes at Piapot school
Saskatchewan: The school on the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan has reopened its doors with elders teaching the classes. The school was shut down last week by parents who were upset over the handling of their children. As the result of an experimental curriculum that involved testing, many students had been placed in special education or were being taught at lower grade levels. The parents want the curriculum changed before teachers are allowed back. The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs says it will evaluate the school.
CBC News

The language of learning
Australia: Daly River School was founded by Jesuits in the 19th century. Today, it is run by the Nauiyu Aboriginal community, and like most remote schools, few new students speak English.  Its curriculum highlights local culture and its teachers are mainly Aboriginal. "Language is everything to us," says principal Miriam Rose Baumann. "A person who knows their language knows who they are."  Teacher Kathy McMahon agrees. "Education's not just about literacy, it's about cognitive development," she says, "and that's where first language is essential.  That's why UN resolutions say kids should be able to learn in their mother tongue, because that's the language their brains are in.  They should be able to develop that and learn what they need from outside cultures."
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/22/1098316840865.html?oneclick=true#

Cheyenne-Eagle Butte principal gets national award
South Dakota:  Betty Ann Bringman, elementary principal at Cheyenne Eagle Butte School, is South Dakota's National Distinguished Principal.  Bringham joins 64 other principals honored by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.  According to her profile on the NAESP Web site: "Betty Ann Bringman has established a reputation for resourceful, hands-on leadership.  As head of a K-2 school located in the center of a Sioux Indian reservation, she has made it her mission to give her 310 students — 98% Native American — the best possible foundation for success."  Bringman taught for 28 years in Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School District before becoming primary school principal 11 years ago.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/10/26/news/local/top/news01.txt

SBA Applauds Native American Youth Entrepreneurs
Washington D.C. The U.S. Small Business Administration has praised October's Indian Youth Entrepreneurial Day. Held by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, IYE brought together more than 50,000 Native American students at 185 BIA schools who explored small business start-up, business planning basics and other aspects of entrepreneurship. "It is a pleasure for the SBA to support Indian Youth Entrepreneurial Day and to play a role in working with Native American youths to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit that is vital to building stronger tribal communities," SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto said.  "Entrepreneurship is the cornerstone of job creation and the SBA is dedicated to helping Native American businesses succeed and create jobs in their communities."
http://www.sba.gov/news/04-77-Native-American-Youth-Entreprener-Event.pdf

Red Cloud to study northern lights

Educational center to help Indian pupils
The National American Indian, Alaskan & Hawaiian Educational Development Center has opened in Sheridan, Wyoming.  The center provides a network that trains and recruits teachers to help young Indian students excel in reading and writing, two areas where they often struggle to keep up. "The concept of the center is to be a forever thing. We're always engaged in working with their teachers, always engaged in working with their parents and making sure it's a community process," said Craig Dougherty, executive director of the center. Stanford University provides research and evaluation services. California State University and Southern Cross University of New South Wales, Australia, will provide professional development programs. Vanderbilt University in Tennessee will develop a math program. Pilot programs on the Northern Cheyenne, Crow and Wind River Indian reservations already have improved literacy rates for second-graders from 19% to 100%.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/

JA Worldwide Poll on Workforce Preparation  
Junior Achievement Worldwide conducted a survey of 1,799 student respondents, ages 12-19, in its first JA Worldwide Poll on Workforce Preparation, Countries represented were Canada, China, Hungary, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, and the United States.
At least 90% of  teens want to obtain a higher education;
More than 33%  would be "very likely" to move to another country to advance their careers;
Most teens believe that information technology and computers will generate the most jobs in the economy;
Business is the career that most represents their ideal job;
68% believe that the most talented students seek employment in business, compared to educational institutions (14%) and government service (18% ).
Read the Report: http://www.ja.org/files/polls/JAW-GlobalBusiness2-2004.pdf

Montana Woman named NIEA Teacher of the Year
Montana: The National Indian Education Association has named Joyce Silverthorne as Educator of the Year. Silverthorne, 57, graduated from high school on the Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Flathead Reservation. She has taught at Salish Kootenai College, Two Eagle River School, and is currently the education director for the Salish and Kootenai tribe. The annual NIEA award is awarded to an American Indian educator, counselor or administrator who has shown significant work in the following areas: 1) Developing innovative education programs; 2) Improving educational quality in the community or region; 3) impacting  the local community; 4) Working to pass legislation to improve student services delivery; 5) Promoting educational equity for students; 6) Promoting training for American Indian teachers and counselors of Native students; 7) Promoting bilingual or multicultural programs; or 8) Developing programs to improve the education of Native people.
http://nativetimes.com/

Grant Will Fund Study Of New England Tribal College
New England: The New England Board of Higher Education has been awarded a $200,000 grant to study the feasibility of creating a Multi-Tribal College in New England. The college would provide higher education to American Indian tribes and emphasize health, technology and environmental sciences to train Native-Americans for healthcare careers. There are now 32 tribal colleges nationwide, but none east of the Mississippi  River.
NatNews-owner@yahoogroups.com

Tribal colleges get strong leaders
Tribal college presidents Cindy Lindquist-Mala and Carol Davis are two of the really strong college leaders in Indian country today. These women have worked behind the scenes and changed the way American Indian people see themselves, their cultures and their lives, and how non-Natives see Indian people.
In 2003, Lindquist-Mala became president Spirit Lake Tribal college, which is called Cankdeska Cikana (Chank-DESK-ah CHEEK-in-naw) and is also known as Little Hoop.  Lindquist-Mala spent 4½ years as Indian Affairs commissioner for North Dakota before assuming the college presidency. She sees a good future for the college.  "I'm home and that is most important to me."  Lindquist-Mala said. Her family lives in the area and she feels an allegiance to the Spirit Lake people.
Carol Davis, acting president of Turtle Mountain Community College on the Turtle Mountain reservation, assumed the post last summer after serving as its vice president for more than 30 years. She worked through her degrees one at a time--including a doctorate--while giving birth to and caring for six children and working for the tribal college. The college has been a leader in identifying and supporting the Ojibway culture and language.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/columnists/9954913.htm

NMAI ‘Fourth Museum’ is in the making
Washington D.C:  Richard West, Jr., NMAI director, believes only a small fraction of the Western hemisphere’s 35,000,000-40,000,000 Native individuals will ever set foot inside the NMAI museum. This is why a "Fourth Museum" is in the works.  In addition to NMAI’s current three facilities -- the main museum on the National Mall in Washington, the George Gustav Heye Center in New York, and the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Md. - - the "Fourth Museum" is an assemblage of portable displays and computerized virtual information that reaches into Native communities. The museum’s exhibits on distinct tribes will circulate back to their communities, and educational outreach, a museum priority, will encompass Native schools. In addition, the museum’s vast store of information, including images, will be available on the Internet within five years, West said.
http://www.indiancountry.com/

Wordcraft Awards 2003-2004
The Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers is dedicated to bringing the oral storytelling and written traditions of Indigenous Native literature to students at all educational levels. In addition, Wordcraft actively promotes Indigenous Native traditions through the writings and story-tellings of beginning, emerging, and established Native and non-Native writers and storytellers. Wordcraft has just named its award winners for 2003-2004. The awards will be presented at the Wordcraft Annual Gathering in Chickasha, OK on November 4-6.  Native Village offers our special congratulations to Wordcrafter of the Year Award Winner, Marijo Moore. Marijo honors us as a member of the Native Village Board of Advisors.  Awards:
Wordcrafter of the Year 2003-2004--MariJo Moore
Writer of the Year 2002-2003 Prose--Pax Riddle
Writer of the Year co-awards 2003-2204 Prose--Don Birchfield and Sara Sue Hoklotubbe
Writer of the Year Children's 2002-2003 Linda Boyden
Writer of the Year Poetry 2003-2004 Joy Harjo
Writer of the Year Academic 2003-2004 Marge Bruchac
Writer of the Year Journalism 2003-2004 Steven Newcomb
Writer of the Year, Editor, 2003-2004, Carol Snow Moon Bachofner for online editing
Artist of the Year Visual Arts 2003-2004 Hulleah
Storyteller of the Year 2003-2004 Joy Harjo and Orvel Baldridge
Writer of the Year Screenplay 2003-2004 Diance Glancy
Mentor of the Year 2003-2004 Heid Erdrich
Intern of the Year 2003-2004 Louis Whitehead
Publisher of the Year 2003-2004 Janet McAdams
Foundation of the Year 2003-2004 Western Heritage Museum Billings MT
Sovereign Nation of the Year 2003-2004 Eastern Cherokee Qualla Boundary
Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers: http://www.wordcraftcircle.org/


Our History Through Aboriginal Eyes
Canada:   Tantoo Cardinal grew up viewing Canadian history books as nasty enemies because of their negative portrayal of aboriginals.  "I didn't trust books so I went to the elders," said Cardinal.  Tantoo used that anger to fuel a successful acting career that's included a role in Dances With Wolves, a movie praised for its thoughtful depiction of native culture.  Cardinal hopes a new collection of stories written by aboriginal authors interpreting Canada's past will inspire native youth and enlighten the rest of society. The project --Our Story -- is sponsored by the Dominion Institute and aims for an audience of all cultures. "It is righting a wrong because the stories that have been written haven't been written by us," said Cardinal, who wrote one of nine pieces in Our Story. 
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