OREGON SIATE LIBRARY
Documents Section
CH
ER I
^1955
_ I__
OREGON
COLfcECTWW
r ^
mr. Bramlet's Message
Chemawa congratulates you on
this* issue' of the Chemawa Ameri
can devoted particularly to the spe
cial Navajo program. The empha-
. -sis in the next issue will be on the,
regular program.
-
The training at Chemawa is in
four major fields,—academic, vo
cational, health, and citizenship. Of
these, the citizenship objectives are
them ost important, but without the
other three we are greatly handi
capped. Chemawa hopes that you
have learned your lessons well, and
that you will always» be a credit to
this .seventy-four year old school.
Best wishes.
—-Paul W. Bramlet, superintendent
Mrs. Brannon's Message
We have completed another year
at Chemawa and for most. Of you
it has been a happy and" fruitful
year. We hope that those , of you
who are going home will have a
nice time*‘visiting with your family
and friends, and that you will re
turn to Chemawa for school next
fall. To those who have completed
their school work and are planning
to find jobs, we wish the very best
of luck and happiness in your fu
ture undertakings.
Nell V. Brannon, principal
McBride Hall Talent
The Winona Hall girls found out
that t^e^ ybungep-girls “ can do a
good jola of acting and singing. A
group of McBride Hall g-irls put on
a program for the Solder Chemawa
girls on Sunday evening, March 28.
Betty Kennerly was the master of
ceremonies'" Other girls in the pro
gram were Rose.Mary Washington,
Elsie Me Joe, Marcella Punkin, Ma
vis Tavishee-,'? Mary Ella Wyman,
Esther Watah Jewel Sharp, Evelyn
Brahman, Clarice Faulkner, Mar
garet Wyman, and Norma McKen
zie. The numbers were singing,
skits, and Indian songs sung by the
Idaho girls, Mavis and Marcella.
CHEMAWA, OREGON, MAY 1, 1954
Number 7
Navajo Students Present Program
At Portland Women's Club
'A. group of sjecond, third, and
fourth year students in the special
Navajo prog-ram, presented num
bers for the Portland Women’s
Club on Friday afternoon, April 9.
Mr. Paul Bramlet, superintendent
at Chemawa Indian School, and Mrs.
Lillian Uentillie, Navajo teacher-in
terpreter, accompanied the group.
John Paddock performed the
eagle dance and George Brown did
a hoop dance. Leo Jackson, Jeffer
son Lee, and Roy Dempsey sang
for the dancing.
Ella Albert, a fourth year stu
dent, .spoke before the club. The
text of her speech follows:
Chemawa To Graduate
Class On M ay 14
Eighteen high school seniors and
thirty-four students in the special
five, year Navajo program at Che
mawa Indian School will graduate
at*- Ceremonies on May 14. The
commencement speaker will be Mr.
L. P. Towle, assistant director of
the Portland area.
Baccalaureate services will be
held on Sunday, May 9. Elder Don
Landon, Salem, Oregon, missionary
of the R.L.D.S. church, will speak.
Valedictorian for the high school
graduating class, is Beverly Carl
son, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Edward J. Carlson of Richland,
Washington. Salutatorian is Sarah
Lewis, who makes her home with
her aunt, Mrs. Elsie Seelatsee o'f
White Swan, Washington.
Honor students for the Navajo
class are Jane , Badoni, valedicto
rian. and Louise Benally, salutato-
rian. Jane is the daughter of Mr.
Man Badoni of Shiprock, New
Mexico. £ Louise’s parents are Mr.
and Mfs. Ben C. Benally, also of
Shiprock, New Mexico.
My name is Ella Albert, and I
am seventeen years old. My home
the Toadlena area on the
Navajo reservation in New Mexico.
This year I am finishing my
fourth year in the special Navajo
program at C hem aw a Indian
SchoolifflNext year, at the end of
my fifth year of training, I will be
ready to make my living on my own
in home service.
I can wash, iron, keep hou^e,
scrub, and take care of children. I
will want to find a happy home to
work .in, with respectable people^
I expect to earn my wages. Many
of our Navajo young people, like
me, are expecting to go out into
communities and become a part Qf
those. com m unity.
If you could see some of our
reservation, -you would understand
why some pf .us m ust/find a life
away from it. Our reservation is
oyer-grazed, depleted, and over-
populated. Our resources will not
niaintain the pepple, and still keep
a fair standard o f ’living.'
The five-year special Navajo
program was started in £ order to
help with this problem. Also, there
were thousands of Navajo children
between twelve and eighteen years
of age, who had never been to
school.
Now we have special Navajo pro
gram schppl^ at Intermountain,
near Brigham City in Utah'; at
Phoenix 'Indian School, Phoenix,
Arizona; at Sherman, Riverside,
California; at Stewart, hear Carson
City, Nevada; and at our own Che
mawa.
Our boys are going out and tak
ing jobs in agriculture, carpentry,
shoe repairing, painting,. service
station: attending, and other semi
skilled trades. W e . are eager to
take our place and accept our re
sponsibilities as American citizens.