Native Village
Youth and Education News
October 19, 2005 Issue 159 Volume 2
"To [Europeans] we were only human when it came to territory, land cessions and whose side you were on." Susan Harjo, Cheyenne-Muscogee
Program Aims at Keeping
American Indian Language Alive
Minnesota: As child, Emma Fairbanks was sent to an Indian boarding
school, where she was hit with a ruler if she spoke Ojibwe. She says that in ten years, most reservation elders
will be gone, taking the languages with them. But Emma's daughter, Cleone Thompson, is helping to save their
language. She runs Nokomis Child Care Center in Minneapolis where young children are enrolled in an Ojibwe language
immersion program. Nokomis is one of the nation's first Indian language immersion program for urban preschoolers.
Similar immersion programs will be launched in other preschool programs. The first batch of Ojibwe speakers are
expected to graduate from these programs in three years. Research shows that immersion programs -- from preschool
to high school -- have the best results. Professionals hope for a ripple effect--the students' parents must take a
class to learn the same materials as their children.
H-Amindian Listserve
School textbooks to be
published in indigenous languages
Venezuela: In late October, Venezuela will distribute 28 different
indigenous language textbooks to indigenous schools throughout the country. The books will be published in the Currico,
Guarikena, Yekuana, Piaroa, Vare, Pari, Yupka, Wayuú, Guarao and Kariña languages. Currently, 540,000 indigenous
people living in Venezuela speak 34 languages. "We hope to bring these [books] to all the natives who live
dispersed throughout national territory," said Jorge Picaterra from the Ministry of Indigenous Education. "For
this reason, the books will be sent to all the regions where we have detected indigenous groups." The books
for indigenous youth include dictionaries, grammar textbooks, beginning reading textbooks and other basic education
books.
http://209.200.101.189/publications/win/win-article.cfm?id=2762
High School Students to
Demonstrate Support for Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Canada: Students from Cardinal Newman and Cardinal Carter Catholic High
Schools in Toronto traveled to Ottawa to present a "pipeline of hope" on Parliament Hill. The
"pipeline" carried messages of support for Alberta's Lubicon Lake Indian Nation, asking the federal government
to negotiate a land rights settlement with the Lubicon people. The event coincided with a United Nations Human Rights
Committee hearing in Geneva where the UNHRC considered Canada's failure to resolve the Lubicon land rights dispute.
Fifteen years ago the UNHRC ruled that "historical inequities and ... more recent developments threaten the way of
life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Band." The UNHRC ruled that "so long as they continue," these
threats are a violation of their fundamental human rights under Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.
http://gatheringplacefirstnationscanews.ca/MediaNews/051014_01.htm
Solar Project Takes Navajo
Youth to Discovery Channel Young Science Challenge
Arizona: Last spring, Garrett Yazzie participated in the Arizona American
Indian Science and Engineering Fair, sponsored by Intel and hosted by Arizona State University's American Indian
Programs. Competing against 81 other 7-8 graders, his project, “Using Solar Energy to Heat Water," took first
place in the engineering category. Students who placed first at the AISEF science fair were eligible to apply to
the Discovery Channel Young Science Challenge. From the 7,500 students nominated from across the country, Garrett is one
of the 40 finalists selected to take part in Octobers Science Challenge event. “My project is about using the
sun’s light rays (shani diin Navajo for sun) energy to heat air and water,” says Garrett. “My project can help
save people money because other forms of energy are getting expensive these days.” Garrett created his invention using
a rubber inner tube from his bike wheel, a 1967 Pontiac radiator, 69 aluminum cans, a plastic funnel, and a piece of
plexiglass. His window-size invention can heat water to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and the air temperature can rise by 45
degrees Fahrenheit.
http://www.nativeyouthmagazine.com/news_view.php?ncid=3&nid=93#93
Youth awarded for
environmental work
Seven activists, aged 15 to 21, have received Brower Awards for
2005. This annual national award recognizes young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the
fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 in cash and flown out for the award
night and a Yosemite camping trip. Among this year's award winners are two Native youth: Erika Chase and Kayla
Carpenter. Kayla is a Yurok tribal member, and Erika is a Hoopa Valley tribal member. To them, tribal culture is
an important component in their lives and drives them to help others. After the 2002 catastrophic fish kill in the lower
Klamath basin that killed over 64,000 salmon, the girls knew something had to be done or a major part of their cultural
lifestyles would disappear. In 2003, the girls started an annual 39-mile Salmon Relay Run to help promote awareness
about their communities' water and fish issues. "On a personal level, our environment has always been a
priority in the minds of my people; therefore, I have established the philosophy that it is the youth of my generation
who must take on this responsibility of ensuring the future," said Erika.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9608323/
High-school
course ferrets out animal lovers
Florida: Kim Acton's classroom at University High School in Orlando
doubles as a veterinary clinic of sorts. Five years ago, Acton's predecessor, who thought the school's
agricultural program needed a more urban twist, started a veterinarian-assistant program. Three years ago, Acton, a
former veterinary technician, took over what has been dubbed the Paws and Claws clinic. The room has a chick and
duckling biddy farm, an X-ray viewer, a centrifuge, a microscope, four guinea pigs, two turtles,a ferret and a varying
number of dogs, depending on who's in day care. All students in the Future Farmers of America program are
required to take the class, but it draws plenty of others, too. "I just love animals," says Casey Hankes, 16,
who wants to be a veterinarian. Despite a tough-looking exterior -- black jeans, black shirt, black fingernails -- she
is the first to grow teary-eyed during a documentary showing a cocker spaniel being euthanized. "This class is why
I come to school," she says later, "other than painting class and seeing my friends." In the classroom
students study everything from animal behavior to anatomy, ethical issues of overpopulation and animal rights, disease
prevention, vaccination protocols, first aid for pets and laboratory procedures. There's extra credit for helping with
cleanup and laundry. For many, the class offers a haven from the stress of being a teenager. "My mom
wouldn't let me have a ferret," said one student as she holds Snickers, the classroom ferret. "So this
way I can just come in here and visit one."
animated ferret:dobrosanimatedferrets.msn
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/orl-view2605sep26,0,5871916,print.story?coll=orl-
Training available for
students, teachers
The National Education Association, which believes multiracial teaching
staffs are essential, is supporting efforts to increase minority educators in public schools. Many groups
are now focusing on recruiting and retaining minority teachers. Among successful efforts cited by the NEA:
Early
outreach programs:
The Minority Teacher Recruitment Project: sponsored by the
University of Louisville, Kentucky and Jefferson County Public Schools;
The Multicultural Initiative in Teaching Program: a partnership
between the University of Northern Iowa and five highly diverse Iowa school districts;
Future Teachers of Chicago/Illinois.
Scholarship/grant
programs:
The Minority Teacher Preparation Scholarship Program:
New Haven, Conn. public schools and Southern Connecticut State University;
Native Apprentice Teacher Program: Arizona State University;
The Gheens Scholars Program at Western Kentucky University and
Jefferson County Schools;
The Alma Exley Scholarship in Connecticut.
Advanced
degree programs
The Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers:
Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass;
The Mellon Fellowship for Minority Teachers: Cornell University and
Stanford University.
http://www.stargazettenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050928/NEWS01/509280328
Teaching native culture
Maine: About a year ago, Julia Sockbeson's classmates played a game called
"kill the Indians." Julia, who is a member of the Penobscot tribe, knew enough not to play
along. When she arrived home, she told her mother: "Momma, they just don't know enough about us. That's why
they want to kill us." Julia's mother, Rebecca, is director of multicultural affairs at the University of
Southern Maine. Recently, she told her daughter's story to Maine social-studies teachers attending a workshop about new
state requirements for teaching Native American culture. Students will now learn about the Wabanaki Confederacy (which
includes the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Micmac tribes), and the history of Native Americans. This
history includes a time when the governing white people issued bounties on scalps of Penobscot men, women and children.
"One time, this was a real game," Sockbeson told the gathering where many reacted with surprise when
told of government bounties on Indians. Donna Loring, a former tribal representative in the Maine Legislature, said the
Indian education bill passed in Maine's legislature (LD 291) is the nation's most innovative and complete plan for
teaching Native American history.
Read more about LD 291: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/LD.asp?LD=291
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.
American Indians can “come
home” to Indiana for graduate study
Indiana: A new scholarship program called the Coming Home Initiative has
been created by IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis). Coming Home provides financial help for
American Indian graduate students whose tribes are native to Indiana. Included in that list are the Potawatomi, Miami,
Wea, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Winnebago, Sac and Fox, Mesquaki, Mahican, Shawnee, Cherokee, and others. Financial help
includes out of state tuition waivers, special financial aid packages, and scholarships earmarked for students from
those tribes. Students will also be eligible for other financial aid assistance. IUPUI has a working group of Native
American faculty, staff and students and are now creating a Native American Studies minor as the first step in
establishing a permanent program.
http://usg.iupui.edu/
Bear-Coon awarded Native
Studies citation at U of A
Alberta: Tracy Bear-Coon has become the first-ever recipient of the Eric
Newell Dean's Undergraduate Citation in Native Studies. The $10,000 award from the University of Alberta is spread
over four years of study and requires a minimum GPA of 3.5 on a normal course load. "To get this citation is almost
surreal," said Bear-Coon, a member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. "I could never imagine
this is where I could be." While at U of A, Bear-Coon will focus on the Cree Language Education in Alberta Project.
The study is examining ways to preserve and retain the Cree language for future generations of Aboriginals living in
Alberta. Bear-Coon says that one conclusion she and her peers have drawn from the study is that the federal
and provincial governments should be forming a Language Commission.
http://www.thegoldenstar.net/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=100&cat=43&id=508537&more=
College Course
Desegregated
Arizona: Although segregated classes are against federal law, until
recently Arizona State University offered an English class for Native Americans only. Instructor G. Lynn Nelson
created the class for Native American students who needed help in their English 101 and 102 courses. Nelson
figured that if Native American students write about subjects familiar to them, they would have a better educational
experience. The class was then set up with "writing assignments geared toward their own background, history and
culture," he said, adding that the class has helped with Native American retention rates. However, FIRE, a
national first amendment watchdog group, has contacted ASU after learning that non-Native American students could not to
enroll in the classes. "There is no problem making a class different," FIRE program manager Robert
Schibley said. "The problem is restricting a class to Native American students alone." The University
has removed the racial qualifier and now any student can enroll in the class. ASU has had previous experience with
FIRE. In 2002, the University dropped a racial restriction on a segregated Navajo history class.
ASU Web Devil.com
Native
reference guide tells the full story
A Jicarilla Apache woman, Veronica Velarde Tiller, has led a 20-member research team to create a second edition to
"Tiller's Guide to Indian Country." The new, 1,120-page volume has doubled in size since the first edition was
released ten years ago. It offers more complete profiles of the country's 563 federally recognized tribes. Senator
Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, describes the book as "a valuable tool that will continue, as it has in the past, to
dispel myths and to inform those who desire to work with Native people and their governments to achieve the economic
renaissance that is the birth right of this nation's First Americans." The guide, which many consider a
"must-have" by governments, reporters, lawyers and others, includes:
*Information
about the economic renaissance in Indian country such as employment rates, retail services, tourism, business
corporations and more;
*Each
tribe's governmental structures;
*Full-length
profiles of the best tribal governance practices to receive awards from Harvard University's Honoring Nations program;
*Educational
information;
*Tribal
profiles on culture and history.
"Tiller's Guide to Indian Country" has a hefty price tag: $199.00. It requires both hands to lift it.
Missoulian
Volume 1
Volume 3
Native
Village is published with the generous help and support of friends, listserves, and online publications.
Without you, Native Village would not exist. Megwich to you all.
To join our mailing list and receive news update
reminders, send email address to: NativeVillage500@aol.com
To contact Native Village staff, email: NativeVillage500@aol.com
Native Village Linking Policy
Our research, study and resource collections cover a lot of Internet territory! We do our best to screen all links and
select only those we designate "kidsafe" and appropriate. However, Native Village does not control the content
found on third-party sites, so we are not always aware when content changes. If you discover a link that contains
inappropriate information, please contact us immediately. In addition, please be aware that each linked site
maintains its own independent data collection, policies and procedures. If you visit a Web site linked to from Native
Village, you should consult that site's privacy policy before providing it with any of your personal information.
For more information about keeping kids safe online, please read about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Native Village © Gina Boltz
All rights reserved